Pokémon: Reaching Destiny
by Lunarelle
Summary: What would you do if Pokémon suddenly appeared in your world? This is the story of Summer, a teenage girl who goes off on an adventure with her friends to explore the mysteries surrounding these new and exciting creatures. Together, they will meet new people, and reach a destiny they never thought existed. Rated a strong PG-13. Adventure/Romance/Friendship. There will be a pairing!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**

The creatures referred herein as Pokémon do not belong to me, but to The Pokémon Company/Nintendo. I make no money from this venture, and I'm only doing this for fun.

This is based on the anime and on Pokémon Go, so I mention teams, but not just the regular Team Mystic, Valor, and Instinct: there are many others that you will encounter, should you decide to keep reading.

Now, the idea for the additional teams did not come from me. I saw some fan art, which immediately triggered my imagination, and I want to credit the artist here: Seoxys Art. Some of the teams are of her creation, and some of them are mine, but the idea was hers. I just elaborated on it.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Lunarelle

* * *

 **Prologue**

The Pokémon showed up practically overnight. Nobody understood where they'd come from, only that one day there weren't any, and the next day, there they were, mingling with many other animals.

It wasn't just a phenomena restricted to one area, no. It was worldwide. From the Sea of Japan, which had suddenly been invaded by Tentacruel and Lanturn, to Texas, where Tauros and Bouffalant were prevalent.

People couldn't understand how it had suddenly happened, but they had been thrilled to have new living beings to examine. Universities suddenly began research on all of the new creatures, which had such amazing powers. Some of them were deemed to be harmless enough, like Pidgey, while others were known to be very dangerous to people.

"I still find it amazing that they showed up out of nowhere."

The woman who had spoken looked at her daughter, a sixteen-year-old teenager who was getting ready to go on a Pokémon journey to learn more about them.

"We all do, Mom," she said. "But they're here now, so we have to make the best of it. I mean, you can't deny the fact that they've greatly helped the world."

It was true. Ever since they had showed up, people had been too flabbergasted by them to quarrel in their usual ways. Conflicts hadn't exactly gone away, but people, even terrorists, had found themselves enthralled with Pokémon, and had started studying them and their benefits.

People in remote areas has been delighted to find that electric Pokémon such as Magnemite could power a house for no cost at all, other than the cost of feeding them. People in harsher climates found that having a water Pokémon could help them grow crops much faster, and people in colder countries were really grateful to have fire Pokémon around.

"Yes. But not everyone appreciates them, Summer."

"Well, I sure do!" said Summer, tying her long dark hair in a ponytail.

"Are you going to do what your cousin did, and collect thirty Pokémon for yourself?"

Summer smiled at her mother, "Why not? They're a lot of fun, you know, and if I collect enough of them, I'll be able to be a Pokémon Researcher. That would be so cool!"

Almost giddy at the prospect, Summer ran to her room, where she'd packed a bag. She and two of her best friends would be spending a couple of months going around the country to look for Pokémon. Summer's father had recently bought an RV that would be perfect for their needs, and he was allowing them to use it so that they wouldn't always have to stay in hotels, which would get expensive.

Her phone rang just as she was putting on her favorite pair of black shorts. She answered on the third ring.

It was Ella, one of her best friends who would be going with her on the journey.

"Are you almost ready?" she screeched.

"Calm down!" cried Summer, laughing. "I said I'd pick you up at seven-thirty, and it's not even seven yet!"

"But we have to go get our Pokémon!"

Summer tried not to roll her eyes. It was June 20th, which was the day to get one's starter Pokémon. Every sixteen-year-old registered as a trainer in the United States had to get their Pokémon by that exact date if they were interested in going on their own journey and participating in the tournaments for their teams. Summer had been looking forward to that day for several years, ever since she'd realized the things she could do with Pokémon. Since her decision, she had worked as hard as she could in school, making sure to get the best grades possible so that her parents wouldn't be able to stop her from going.

"I know. I'm excited too. But the Pokémon Center won't open until nine o'clock. Anyway, I'm almost ready to go, don't worry. I'll see you soon!"

She hung up a few minutes later, and continued getting dressed, putting on a black shirt with a sparkly silver Poké Ball on the front, thigh-high black socks and black and silver sneakers. Her heart hammered in her chest with excitement.

"Do you know which Pokémon you're going to choose?" her mother asked her when she came downstairs again, this time hauling her duffel bag and backpack.

"Actually, Mom, you don't get to choose your first Pokémon. It's assigned to you. I don't really know how it works, though, because people don't talk about it. But I do know that three different types that you could get: fire, water, and grass."

"And which Pokémon could you get?"

"Oh, you could get one of twenty-one starter Pokémon, so there are a lot to choose from. I know that Ella would love to have a water Pokémon."

"What about Megan?"

"Flying."

Summer's mother began to laugh, "There are so many Pidgeys around, I'm surprised she hasn't caught one yet."

"You know that you can't have a Pokémon without first getting your license, and you can't get a license until you've gone to the Pokémon Center to get your first Pokémon and be assigned to your team." Summer rummaged in her bag to check that she had everything, including her laptop and all of her chargers.

"So I guess you're ready to go?"

"Yes. If I don't show up soon to pick up Ella, she's going to freak out completely."

She made her way outside where the RV was parked. It was a huge thing, big enough for at least three people. Painted black, silver and blue, it hadn't been new when her father had purchased it, and he had spent quite some time making it look better than any RV Summer had seen in magazines. It was his pride and joy, so much so that he had taken over one of the motorhome shops in the city.

"Don't leave until you've put your things away in the drawers," he told her, getting out of the RV. "You know how quickly these places can get messy, especially with three teenagers."

Summer smiled, "We're going to put everything away once we're all together. Don't worry, Daddy, we have everything under control."

"You have your laptop?"

"Yes. I have my laptop, my phone, and first-aid kits for both people and Pokémon. Don't worry. We'll make sure to call you when we're on the road. We're going to be stopping at Uncle George's ranch down by San Antonio in a couple of weeks, so we won't be completely alone out there."

"Okay, okay. Go then, and have a great time. Be careful on the road, though! We don't want to get a phone call at two o'clock in the morning that start with 'We have your daughter Summer'."

A laugh, "I'll be careful, I promise."

She hugged both her parents, kissing their cheeks before climbing into the RV and starting the engine. Giving a happy cry, she started to drive away from home and towards a brand new adventure.

* * *

 **Chapter One**

Several flying Pokémon mingled with regular birds, calling out to Summer as she drove past their trees in the RV. Pidgeys and their evolutions were very common, although she also saw a Murkrow not far from the road.

Her excitement grew as she got closer to Ella's house. The time was finally there. They were going to get their Pokémon after such a long wait.

The RV's phone rang. Summer pushed a button on the steering wheel, answering it, "Hi Ella."

"Are you on your way?"

"I'm just about to turn on your street."

"I see you!" shrieked Ella. "Hurry! Hurry!"

Summer giggled and deliberately slowed down. By the time she pulled up in front of her friend's house, Ella was standing there, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Her parents stood behind her, shaking their heads in despair.

"I can't believe we're letting you girls do this."

"Oh, we'll be okay, Daddy!" exclaimed Ella, hugging him and hopping into the RV, "This is _so awesome_!" She hugged Summer tightly, "Come on, come on! We have to go pick up Megan!"

"Girl! Let me say hello to your parents first." Summer playfully pushed Ella away before getting out of the RV. "Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont, hello."

"Hi Summer, how are you?" asked Mrs. Beaumont, shaking her hand.

"I'm doing good thanks. Excited."

"I trust you know how to drive that thing?" asked Ella's father, looking at the RV.

"Oh yeah. My dad insisted on my getting the license to drive it as soon as I got my regular driver's license. I know that Megan also got hers, so she'll be able to drive as well."

"Good. Be careful on the roads, don't get in over your head with the Pokémon, and try not to bring back all six hundred of them, okay?"

"I can't promise we won't bring a lot of Pokémon back. I've been studying for a while, and know exactly which ones I want to get. Ella too, I think."

"Water Pokémon, as many as I can carry!"

"Hey now," cautioned Mr. Beaumont, "you need to be able to take care of each and every one of them. I expect you to be responsible about this. Think of how much money it costs to take care of each of them, even if they _are_ in their Pokéballs."

"I'm sure we'll do fine," said Ella. "Can we go now? We have to pick up Megan and go to the Pokémon Center!"

"Both of which are only few minutes away, now calm down, Ella. Honestly, you'd think that you'd never done anything exciting before."

But nothing could curb her enthusiasm, and so they were finally allowed to leave. Ella took her spot on the passenger side, checking her reflection in the rearview mirror. She was gorgeous, the type of girl who looked like she'd stepped off a runway without any effort. As a matter of fact, she _had_ done some modeling, which had helped her save enough money for the journey.

 _When I think that I had to work in a restaurant for eight months to save money_ … said Summer to herself.

Shaking her head and smiling, she started the RV again.

"Oh, I can't wait!" squealed Ella, stomping her feet in excitement. "It's going to be awesome! Did you see yesterday's battle on Channel Five?"

"Team Valor against Team Discord? Yeah, I saw it. It was quite a show."

"When that trainer sent out that Bewear, I thought I was going to explode! It was huge!"

Summer nodded, "But then the other trainer sent out a Blaziken, so it evened out in the end."

"Still, I didn't think that Discord was going to lose. They hardly ever lose."

"It goes to show you that it doesn't matter which team you're assigned to. I mean, there are eighteen teams out there. The same one can't always win."

Turning onto Megan's street, Summer eased the RV to a stop, seeing the last member of their group in front of her house, bags at the ready.

"Five blocks, and it takes you forever to get here!" she cried, laughing. Her unruly brown hair had been coaxed into dozens of braids, and she had applied makeup to her coffee-colored skin, something she usually only did before going on a date. She waved as she hefted her backpack higher on her shoulder.

"The Pokémon Center's just down your block," said Ella, getting out of the RV and hugging Megan. "You could have just waited there for us."

"By myself? I don't think so. We said we were going together, so we're going together."

Summer also hugged Megan, "Are you ready?"

"Totally! Let's go! Mom packed us a lunch."

"So did mine," said Ella.

Summer began to laugh, "Mine did too. It's in the fridge. I guess we won't starve today, and neither will our Pokémon."

"You have Pokémon food?" wondered Megan. "Because I have a whole bag."

A nod, "Food, snacks, beverages, medication, I think I have more for Pokémon than I do for myself."

"Yahoo!" screamed Ella, giving a little jump.

"Shhh! You'll wake the neighbors!"

Ella put a hand over her mouth and giggled, "Sorry. But come on, everyone's excited today!"

"All right, all right, let's go! I don't want there to be too many people ahead of us."

"You think there will be?" asked Ella, looking at Summer uneasily.

"I think that it's a good thing that people were forbidden from camping out. But even if there were a hundred kids before us, there would be enough Pokémon for everyone." Summer was thinking about the first time the journeys had begun for trainers. Kids had been terrified that there would be no more Pokémon available, and the Pokémon Centers had been overwhelmed. Since then, the Pokémon Committee had asked trainers to set up ahead of time so that things could be done in an orderly fashion when the time came.

Megan took her place inside the RV. "It's huge in here!" she exclaimed. "Wow! How much did this thing cost your family?"

Summer started to laugh, "You don't want to know how much work my father put in to renovate it."

"Seriously? It looks like one of those luxury RVs that we see in the movies. There are three beds in here?"

"One above the cab, one in the back, and the sofa there pulls out into a bed as well."

"This is _so cool_! I don't know if I'm more excited about spending time in here or getting my Pokémon."

"Pokémon," said Summer and Ella at the same time.

Megan grinned, "Let's go then!"

And so they did, getting to the Pokémon Center a few minutes later. There were several people there already, and they watched Summer pulling up with interest.

"Looks like about twenty people will be ahead of us," said Megan, glancing out the window and counting them quickly. "That's not too bad, I guess."

"Remember how bad it was when we signed up?" asked Ella. "The site crashed on me twice."

Summer remembered that evening well. It had happened the previous January, and she'd been so nervous that she had mistyped her name three times. "I remember. It was so slow I thought I'd never get it to work." She turned off the engine and got up. "We should put our things away now. Would you guys mind if I took the bed above the cab?"

"It's your RV," laughed Ella. "You take whichever bed you want." She glanced at Megan and made a run for the bed that was at the back of the camper, "I take the big bed!" she cried.

Megan stared after her, "Then I guess I'll take the pull-out?"

Summer chuckled, "It's comfortable."

They began to put their things away, and by the time they got out of the camper, ten more people had arrived.

Pokémon gossip was everywhere. Everyone talked about their favorite teams, and where they were hoping to end up. As nobody knew exactly how the selection process went, everyone was either excited or nervous.

"I know I'm going to be on Team Motion," one youth was saying. "Raikou's my favorite legendary Pokémon."

"Is that how it works?" a girl asked, biting her lip. "They assign you based on what your favorite Pokémon are?"

"Well, nobody knows, do they? I've tried accessing the different team websites, but I could only get to the generic ones. Do you have any idea why?"

It was a good question. Summer had wondered about that time and again as she'd prepared for her journey. She and her parents had sifted through all of the different teams, but had only been able to find, as the boy had said, generic information, such as the names of each teams and the legendary Pokémon they took after.

"He's right," said Megan. "How do we know which team will be right for us? All I know is that Team Chaos and Team Discord win a lot of tournaments, but we know that from watching them battle. I wonder why trainers can't talk about their teams with non-trainers."

"Probably to keep the secret," said Summer.

"What secret?"

"Well, I guess it's like when you were in gymnastics. You wouldn't have told everyone what dismount you were going to use, right? You had to keep that between you and your team."

Two girls further down the line were worriedly talking about what they would do if they weren't put on the same team. Both of them loved Team Legend, but it was very unlikely that they would remain together.

"I hadn't even thought of that," said Ella. "Because there are eighteen teams, we're probably going to be separated. Will we even be able to travel together?"

Summer gave a nod, "If I hadn't been sure, I wouldn't have invited you guys on a cross-country trip to find Pokémon. Members of different teams are encouraged to work together, as long as they don't reveal too much about their own teams. Stop worrying."

"Oh, like you're not worried!"

She didn't answer. In truth, she had been so focused on the Pokémon that she hadn't given much thoughts to the team she would be joining until the previous month.

All new trainers were assigned to one of eighteen Legendary Teams, named after the legendary Pokémon that had been discovered in the world. The teams each participated in regional, national, and international tournaments, which enhanced their prestige, depending on whether its members won or lost.

Tournament participation wasn't mandatory, as far as Summer knew, but it was something that most trainers looked forward to, because the victors usually received prizes. A boy the previous year from Team Mystic had gotten a full scholarship to a university in Australia thanks to his win in the Oceanic Pokémon League.

Ella poked Summer's shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Summer smiled, "Oh yeah. Sorry, I was just thinking about the different teams and the tournaments."

"You can still be a trainer and not be a part of any teams, right?" asked Megan. "I thought I read that somewhere."

It was a woman in line with her daughter who answered, "Oh yes, that's certainly possible. If you're not interested in tournaments, you can leave the team you've been assigned to almost immediately. It's what my son did. But he regretted it, because being part of a team gives you lots of advantages."

"Like what?" wondered Ella.

"You'll see. But if you want to leave your team, there is a Pokémon trainer community that's called Teamless."

"Why wouldn't you want to be part of a team? Can you get kicked out?"

"I've never heard of anybody being kicked out of a team," said Summer. "But I have heard of this Teamless community. They don't have tournaments, but work with Pokémon in any case."

The woman nodded, "You'll find out soon enough. Which team are you hoping to be a part of?"

"Team Illusion," said Summer immediately.

"Team Zephyr," answered Megan.

"Team Mystic for me," said Ella, showing her blue backpack, which indeed had the team's logo on it. "But we'd really like to be on the same team."

"Oh, that probably won't happen. It might, but it's unlikely."

Time seemed to move more slowly as more and more people arrived. News crews arrived as well, to report on what was happening. Summer saw a camera pointed in her direction more than once, and hoped that she didn't look like a clown.

Megan looked around, "Hey, what do you think happens to the kids who weren't able to sign up for today? Do they get a make-up day?"

"No, Megan," said Ella. "Remember? They get to sign up for the December date. In countries like Australia, December 20th is actually their huge date, because it's right at the beginning of their summer season."

"Oh, that's right, I completely forgot about December. Oh, look! Something's happening!"

At Megan's cry, everyone in line straightened up, their energies renewed.

Four people in long lab coats had come out of the Pokémon Center. One of them, a man with black hair and a trimmed goatee, was holding a microphone.

"Welcome, new Pokémon trainers!" he said. "Today is the day you've been waiting for, where you finally get your Pokémon and are assigned to your Legendary Teams!"

There was a colossal cheer from the crowd. Next to Summer, Ella screamed and clapped her hands, jumping up and down.

"Good to see that you're all excited! Now, we're going to have you come in in groups of eight. Make sure to have your IDs ready so that we can check you in quickly. See you inside, and again, congratulations!"

Excited, Summer took Megan and Ella's hands, squeezing them tightly. "It's finally happening!"

The line began to move as the first eight people were let through.

"How long does the process take?" asked Ella.

"Around thirty minutes or so, depending on the questions the trainer has," answered the woman who had spoken previously. "You'll be in there before you know it."

She was right. Less than an hour later, Summer found herself giving her ID to an attendant and stepping inside the Pokémon Center for the first time.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hi everyone!

This first chapter is just a test to see people's responses. I'm currently writing quite a bit of this particular fan fic, and I'm hoping to have more chapters eventually to post. So, please, let me know whether you like it and want me to update!

Lunarelle


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

The building was large three-story edifice. Constructed with the latest and most durable materials, it had white walls interspersed with bay windows, and a red roof that distinguished it from every other structure in the area.

The lobby Summer found herself in was spacious, with black and white floors that might have been marble. Large paintings of Pokémon decorated the walls, and directly in front of Summer was a large reception area, where a woman was waiting with a Chancey.

"Hi," she said, friendly. "You can just take the elevator over there to the second floor."

Summer gave a nod, and got to the elevator just as Megan and Ella arrived.

"This is amazing," hissed Ella. "Look at this place! I've never been inside before."

"Well, no," said Megan. "You wouldn't have been able to, without a Pokémon license. I tried once, just to see what it was about, and they wouldn't let me in."

They stepped off the elevator and onto the second floor, which was decorated a pristine white, with splashes of red. Two boys and a girl were waiting there, sitting gingerly on a red couch, ready to jump into action as soon as they could. Nobody said anything.

"Now I feel like I'm at a funeral or something," whispered Ella as they sat on a second couch that faced three doors.

Megan giggled. "I think everyone's nervous now."

"Nervous, I feel like I'm about to faint," Summer told her. Her hands were shaking and as she caught her reflection in the window, she noticed that she was pale. She tried to relax.

 _There's nothing to be afraid of. You've been wanting this for months!_

But she was worried. Worried, now that the time was here, that she wouldn't do as well as she hoped. What if she was a disappointment and found that she hated to battle? What if she couldn't be a Pokémon researcher?

She didn't have the time to ponder these questions further, as the doors in front of them all opened at the same time.

"Next group, please," said a mechanical voice.

Summer got to her feet, giving one last glance to Megan and Ella before stepping through the doorway in front of her and into another room.

She was greeted by the same man in the goatee who had spoken earlier. Up close, his eyes were kind, and Summer saw with a start that he had a Pokémon on his shoulder: a Spinarak.

"Hello," she said, overcome with shyness.

The man smiled, "Hi. I'm Professor Alder. Welcome to the Pokémon Center."

"Thank you," she replied. "My name is Summer. Summer Blackwood."

"There's no need to be nervous, Summer. I promise that this is quite a painless process."

"Oh, I know. I've just been waiting a while for this, like everyone else."

"Yes, I understand. Now, are you ready to receive your Pokémon and be assigned to your team?"

She nodded, "Yes I am."

"Good. You can put your hand in this device right here. It will take your fingerprints and a tiny bit of blood – don't worry it won't hurt at all. We'll go from there."

The mention of blood made Summer feel queasy. "O-okay," she said, stepping towards the device in question. It was a white rectangular box that was open at one end so that she could slide her hand in.

A bad experience with a spider had taught Summer to never put her hand in a dark hole, so it was with apprehension that she did this now. Nothing happened at first, but after a couple of seconds, the machine began to whirr, with small panels on the side lighting up in red and blue. Her hand got very warm, and she felt a tiny prick at the tip of her pinky finger.

"See?" said Professor Alder when the machine fell silent again. "Nothing to it. You can come over here."

Summer pulled her hand out of the box and walked towards a large vertical screen, where she saw her picture, birth date, and hometown. "How does the computer know what team to put me in?"

"Do you remember when you signed up to become a trainer?"

A nod, "Yes."

"There was a questionnaire that you had to answer. These answers were fed directly into the database, and that, along with your blood, will help the computer decide where to put you. Ah, here's your Pokémon."

Summer started. Her Pokémon!

Professor Alder picked up a Pokéball and handed it to her, "Here you go."

With trembling fingers, Summer took the red and white ball and pressed on its central button, enlarging it. Holding it out the way she had seen on television, she saw it open, revealing her Pokémon, which came out in a flash of red light.

A Cyndaquil.

"Oh my goodness," she whispered just as Cyndaquil appeared on the screen beneath her picture. Summer knelt in front of the Pokémon who was looking at her timidly. "Hi there, Cyndaquil. My name is Summer."

She held out her hand carefully, and Cyndaquil approached her slowly, taking small steps. "Quil…" it said.

Summer smiled, "Yes, hi. Can I pick you up?"

Cyndaquil cocked its head to the side before coming closer to her. It nodded once, and Summer slowly put her hands around it, picking it up and bringing it closer to her.

"I'm going to be your trainer, Cyndaquil. And I hope that we're going to become good friends." Cradling it in her arms, she rubbed its head gently. Cyndaquil gave a little happy cry, settling against her. "It's the cutest thing ever," she told Professor Alder, who was watching her closely.

"I'm happy to see that you two are already getting along. The last trainer just came out of here with a Turtwig, and they didn't take kindly to each other immediately. I think he'll have a tough time ahead of him."

"That happens? That Pokémon and their trainers don't get along?"

"Sometimes, yes. There are some Pokémon who don't want to be captured, and who will resist with every ounce of strength they have. You'll be able to tell that quickly when you start your own journey."

Summer looked at Cyndaquil, "Is that where the flames shoot out of it?" she asked, nodding towards the four red spots on its back.

"Yes. And you'll want to be careful. When Cyndaquil gets angry or defensive, the flames will come out, and they can burn things down, contrary to what some people might have you believe."

"Well, of course they can, they're flames."

Professor Alder nodded, "Yes. We've had trainers think that their Pokémon's abilities wouldn't work on them or their things, specifically because they shared a bond. But that's not the case at all, so remember that."

"I will. Thank you, Professor."

"You've been so focused on your Cyndaquil that you haven't noticed that your team was posted. Would you like to take a look?"

Her team? Summer turned around. The screen had changed. Her picture was still there along with the rest of her data, but other things had changed. The background was now a pearly silver color and the logo of her new team had appeared in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Team Origin. The Legendary Team that had been named for Arceus.

"Look, Cyndaquil," said Summer in a trembling voice. "We're part of Team Origin!"

"Not the team you were expecting?" asked Professor Alder.

"I wasn't really expecting anything, to be honest. I was just excited to get my Pokémon."

Professor Alder smiled, "But there was a team that you followed, am I right?"

"Sure, everyone has a team they follow. I guess I followed Team Illusion more than any other."

"I was following Team Valor before I was assigned to a different team. It was a bit of a shock, because the teams were new, and nobody knew what the process was like. You see, we all thought that we would get to choose our own teams."

"But you weren't sixteen when you started, were you? I mean, Pokémon have only been around for eight years."

"That's right. I was twenty-three. But I was just as excited as you were when I got my first Pokémon – a Squirtle."

"What team did you get?"

"Well, as I said, I wanted to join Team Valor, because I loved Moltres. But the computer decided that I would be a better fit for Team Origin, just like you." As he spoke, he moved the lapel of his lab coat to show her his shirt, which was white, with the Team Origin logo on it.

Summer smiled, running a finger down Cyndaquil's body. "Were you disappointed?"

"Surprised, mostly. Especially when I found out about the requirements."

Requirements? "There are requirements?"

"Oh yes. Each team has a specific set of rules that its trainers need to obey in order to stay."

"What kind of rules?"

"Some teams requite trainers to have a certain amount of type-specific Pokémon. I can't divulge a lot of information, because figuring it out on your own is part of the learning process. But for example, there's a team that requires all of a trainer's Pokémon to know at least one water-type move."

"They can do that? Force trainers to have only very specific Pokémon?"

"It can be challenge for some trainers, yes. But the requirements are only for the tournaments. Pokémon trainers can catch any Pokémon they want, but if they plan to participate in tournaments and enhance their team's prestige, they need to abide by their team's rules."

"So that's why some trainers are in the Teamless Community?"

An odd look crossed Professor Alder's features. "Yes, that's part of it. You see, the whole idea behind being on these teams is to challenge yourself. Just because a Pokémon is of a specific type doesn't mean that it can only learn its type's moves. As a matter of fact, most Pokémon know more than one type of move, it's in their nature."

"So, what are the requirements for Team Origin?"

"Ah, I'm glad you asked that. Arceus, as you know, is rumored to have created all Pokémon and the world they came from."

Summer gave a nod. She'd heard this before.

"Because of that, members of Team Origin are required to have at least three Pokémon of every single type by the end of the third stage."

"But… there are eighteen different types of Pokémon. You mean to say that I'm going to need at least –," she counted quickly, "fifty-four Pokémon?"

"That's right. And they all have to be different. You can't count three Pokémon of the same evolutionary scale."

"What do you mean?"

Professor Alder pointed to another screen across the room, which showed Cyndaquil's evolutionary chart. "If you train your Cyndaquil right, it will evolve into Quilava, and later into Typhlosion. But you can't count each of them separately, even if you have a Quilava, a Cyndaquil, and a Typhlosion."

"So Cyndaquil and its evolutions would only count once for the requirement?"

"Exactly."

Chewing her lip, Summer thought things over. "How am I supposed to find an ice-type Pokémon in the summer?"

"That's the challenge, isn't it?" laughed the professor. "Your teammates will definitely help you with that, if you decide to stick with them, that is."

"And, Professor, what do you mean by third stage? There are stages?"

"Yes. Tournament stages, which are measured in years. This is your first year, so you're in stage one. You and other new trainers will only be able to participate in Stage One tournaments, which are generally statewide or regional, although there is a National Stage One Tournament every year."

"Oh, right. Last night's battle on Channel Five was Stage One, I remember, but I thought that was only for that competition."

"No, it's a general term for trainers. After the third stage, which ends when you're eighteen, the stages don't really matter anymore, unless you're still competing, which is the case for some of us."

"Do you still compete?" asked Summer, her eyes wide.

"On occasion, yes. My last battle was two weeks ago. It was for a small thing, but our team won, which is always good. Would you like to see which Pokémon I use?"

"I would, yes!" she said enthusiastically. Cyndaquil, picking up on her excitement, gave a small squeak of interest.

Professor Alder took a Pokéball from where it was on his belt, releasing the Pokémon inside. What came out was a creature Summer had seen a couple of times before, but never in person. Resembling a caribou, it was a little over four feet tall, its antlers coming up past her head.

"Oh, it's a Stantler!" she cried, delighted. "It's so cute! Look, Cyndaquil!"

Obligingly, her Pokémon looked at the Stantler curiously, saying its name once. Stantler nodded its head and came closer, sniffing at it delicately.

"It's been a good companion over these last few years," said Professor Alder, walking over and rubbing Stantler's head gently. "So. If you'll give me your phone and your laptop, I'll install the necessary programs for you to use now that you're on our team."

Summer put Cyndaquil down for a minute and took her phone out of her pocket before opening her bag and grabbing her laptop. "Here you go."

"Ah, thank you. You'll have to go to the store and get all of your gear. I'll give you five Pokéballs now, but you can get more on your own. Do you know what you'll need?"

"Uniforms, right? For the tournaments?"

"Yes. Those are mandatory if you're going to compete. Okay, I'm updating your phone's software so that it can be much more performing. The arrival of Pokémon didn't just give us new creatures, but amazing technology as well. I have no idea how we functioned without it."

"As best we could," said Summer, picking up Cyndaquil again. She looked at the professor, "Why do you think the Pokémon came to us?"

Professor Alder stopped tinkering with her phone for a second, "Legend has it that Pokémon appear when a population is on the brink of destruction. You were young when Pokémon first appeared, so you might not remember this, but fifteen years ago, things were bad. Wars were everywhere, people were dying by the thousands every day…"

"Yes, I know this from my history classes."

"Well, the Pokémon appeared just as we were on the brink of nuclear war. We got very lucky, I think, because in just a few years, most of that conflict disappeared."

"But, even with Pokémon, people don't just change their behaviors overnight."

"Oh, we have a theory about that, and I think you've heard it already."

She had. "You think that the legendary Pokémon did something to people's emotions. Not the population at large, but to the people who were spearheading the wars."

"It's the only explanation that makes sense."

Summer took a deep breath, "Do you think that the Pokémon will disappear, then?"

"You don't have to worry about losing your Cyndaquil anytime soon. If the Pokémon were to disappear tomorrow, we might fall back into chaos a lot faster, and I think that whatever power brought them to us knows that."

"It's just so unreal. All of a sudden, they appeared, and changed our world, literally."

"The Cyndaquil in your arms is pretty real. They've offered us new opportunities that we hadn't even dreamed about. And now, I'm passing those opportunities down to you." He finished with her phone and computer, and moved to one of the screens, tapping a keyboard there. A moment later, a card popped out of a slot. He handed it to her.

"What's this?"

"Your new ID. It serves as a payment card in every Pokémon store in the world. The more prestige a team has, the more discounts its members get. You know what place Team Origin currently holds in the rankings?"

"Fifth place, as of last night."

The professor nodded, "That's right. That's pretty good, considering. And for every battle a member of the team wins, our prestige goes up. For every battle we lose, the prestige drops."

Summer put her ID in her wallet, which she put back in her bag. "Is there anything else I should do before I go?"

"Yes. You need to sign up on Team Origin's website. It'll just take a second." He tapped a few keys, and the official website came up on the screen. "Is there a screen name you want to use?"

"Well… my parents call me Summer Star."

A chuckle, "I like it. Here, you sign up."

Summer went to the screen, placing Cyndaquil on a stool next to the console and quickly entering her details on the sign-up screen and managing to use her nickname as her screen name. "I'll change my details later on."

"Oh yeah, if you did that now, we'd never get people moving along. Now, if you have any questions, you can ask in the forums. The site moderators are excellent and very helpful. All of them have been through tournaments. And I'll be available through the forums starting tomorrow as well."

"Sounds great. Thank you so much for everything, Professor!"

"Do you have plans right now?"

"Actually my friends and I were planning on doing a cross-country tour to catch Pokémon. My dad lent me his RV for the trip."

"Oh, so that's your camper out there. Sounds like you girls will have a lot of fun."

"It _is_ okay for them to come with me, right? Even if they're probably going to be on other teams?"

"Of course it is. My wife is actually on Team Illusion, so, you see, it's not so restrictive."

Summer smiled as she put her things back in her bag, including Cyndaquil's Pokéball, "I'll make sure to contact you if I have any questions."

"You do that. Congratulations, Summer. I hope you and Cyndaquil have lots of adventures together."

"Thank you! Are you ready to go, Cyndaquil?"

The Pokémon nodded, cuddling up to Summer.

"Off we go, then," said Summer, "Bye, Professor!"

He waved at her, watching her walk out through another door. He smiled.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

I'm still in the testing phase with this fic, but I hope that you like it!

Lunarelle


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**

I wasn't going to update today, but considering everything that's going on in this insane world, I thought that I might as well. Enjoy it, and please let me know how you feel about it!

Love (and cookies),

Lunarelle

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

She had her Pokémon! She was on one of the Legendary Teams! Hugging Cyndaquil close, Summer spun around a couple of times, giggling. Cyndaquil responded by making the cutest sound possible.

"You and I are going to go off on adventures together. But first, you're going to meet my two best friends Ella and Megan. I wonder which Pokémon they got!"

Summer made her way back outside and found herself faced with half a dozen television cameras and reporters.

"Oh, look! A new trainer! And she has a Cyndaquil!" squealed someone, running towards her.

The sudden movement startled Cyndaquil, who curled up into a ball in Summer's arms.

"Oh, isn't it cute?"

"Is it shy?"

"Do you think I could pat it?"

Summer took a step back, "Back off, you guys, you're scaring my Pokémon!" She looked down at Cyndaquil, who had started to shake. "It's okay, baby. I'm here, and nobody's going to hurt you, I promise."

"Quil…"

"They're just curious and want to look at you, that's all." She looked at the reporters, who were watching her, fascinated. "You're not going to hurt my Cyndaquil, are you?"

"No!"

"Of course not!"

"You see? They won't hurt you. They're going to keep a bit of distance and give us space so that we can leave." Leaning over, she cuddled her Pokémon, "It's okay," she repeated.

Slowly, Cyndaquil relaxed, but continued hiding its face against Summer's chest. Summer stroked its head gently, as she looked at the reporters.

"Yes, Cyndaquil's very cute. I don't know if it's shy, because I've just gotten it. And I know you'd like to pat it, but it wouldn't be a good idea right now, it's too scared."

"What's your name?" asked a woman.

"Summer Blackwood."

"And what team did you get assigned to?"

Summer smiled, "I think I'm going to let you discover that when I have my first televised battle."

"Can you tell us about the process in there, Summer?"

"Well, I was really nervous at first, but I was also excited. I've wanted a Pokémon for a while. But then I got Cyndaquil, and I knew that everything was going to be all right. Will you excuse me? I have a lot of things to do, now that I'm a new trainer."

"Sure. Thanks for talking to us!"

Summer waved at the reporters and got away as quickly as she could. She'd seen these kinds of ambush interviews before, where reporters cornered a new trainer as soon as he or she got out of the Pokémon Center. She felt that she'd been lucky with that crop of reporters. The previous year, one of them had ripped a Pokémon right out of a trainer's arms.

"That wasn't so horrible, was it, Cyndaquil?" she asked, beginning to walk towards the RV. She saw right away that Megan was there, waiting, with a little Pokémon on her shoulder that looked like a baby owl. "Look at that! She got a Rowlet!"

Megan saw her and waved at her, "Hi, Summer! Oh! Look at your Cyndaquil! It's adorable!"

"So's your Rowlet. Hi there, little one!" She glanced around, but didn't see Ella anywhere, "Has Ella not come out yet?"

"I haven't seen her."

Summer opened the RV, climbing inside. "Cyndaquil, this will be your home for the next few weeks."

"You too, Rowlet," said Megan to her Pokémon. "I guess we have to go to the Pokémon store, don't we?"

"Yes. Hey, what team are you on?"

"Celestial. With Palkia."

"That's pretty awesome."

Megan nodded, "I'm happy about it, even if it isn't Team Zephyr. What about you?"

"Origin."

"Oh, wow! So you're really in the competition, aren't you? My team's way down the line."

"Hey, you can win battles no matter what team you're on."

"I guess so. I'm really happy I ended up with Rowlet, though! And my team's requirement is to have flying-type Pokémon, at least twenty of them by the end of stage three."

Summer grinned, "Your favorite. You got lucky, Megs."

Megan was about to answer when the door to the RV opened and Ella came inside, looking conflicted. She carried a bird-like Pokémon as well, a water-type called Piplup.

"There you are!" said Summer. "How did it go?"

"I don't really know," she said quietly. "I didn't know that the teams had requirements."

"Nobody did. Why are you looking so upset? What happened?" Megan took her hand and led her inside, while Piplup gave a sad cry.

"I won't be able to use water-type Pokémon…"

"What? How is that possible?"

Summer sat down next to Ella, "What do you mean? What requirements do you have?"

"She wasn't really specific. I was assigned to Team Justice, and the requirements there are fighting-type Pokémon."

"Only fighting types? Or Pokémon who know fighting-type moves?"

Ella looked up, "I don't know. Like I said, she wasn't specific."

"But you were in there longer than we were. What were you doing?"

"Oh, no, I was out of there in fifteen minutes with Piplup. I just… I went to the bathroom."

Summer rubbed Ella's back while Cyndaquil tentatively put a little paw on Ella's knee, wanting to comfort her as well. "Did you sign up on your team's website?"

Ella shook her head.

"Well, here, give me your computer, and we'll do that now."

"We're not supposed to see each other's websites," said Megan quietly.

"I'm not doing this to steal team secrets. Come on, Ella, we can look up your requirements at the same time. I'm sure you'll be fine." Summer took a laptop out of Ella's bag and turned it on. "At least she upgraded your software. What team was she from?"

"Team Valor. What about you guys? Where did you end up?"

It was Megan who told her while Summer found the website for Team Justice.

"Here, Ella, enter your credentials here so that you can access the site."

Sniffling once, Ella did as Summer asked. She looked shattered, and Piplup seemed like it hardly knew what to do.

"What should I use as a nickname?"

"I used Summer Star," said Summer, grinning.

Megan chortled, "I like that! I just went with Maygan, since I was born in May."

"Cute. Oh, I know what you could use!"

"What?"

"Water-types are your favorite Pokémon, right?"

Ella nodded.

"How about… Waterella?"

"That sounds ridiculous!" cried Ella, startled into laughter.

"You're laughing!" said Megan. "That's a good sign! Look, even Piplup is happy!"

Megan was right. Upon seeing Ella laughing, Piplup had started to laugh as well. It cuddled up to her and closed its eyes, going to sleep.

"Awe, look at that."

Ella looked down at Piplup and smiled, running a finger down its body. Finally, she typed in the screen name Azumarella on the website. "Azumarill is my favorite Pokémon," she explained. "And I won't be able to use it."

"Sounds to me like the professor you had didn't give you a full picture," said Megan. "The professor I had was Professor Beech, and even though he was from another team, he told me everything I needed to know. For example, he said that if I wanted to have something other than a flying type, I could. It's just that I wouldn't be able to use it in tournaments and stuff."

"Look up the requirements," said Summer. "Right there, look."

Ella clicked on the link, and a popup appeared.

 _Welcome to Team Justice, where we honor Cobalion, Lord of Steel and Fight! For official tournament purposes, trainers are required to have at least twelve fighting-type Pokémon, and two steel-type Pokémon. If you want to have another type of Pokémon, you need to make sure that it knows a fighting-type move._

"There, you see?" said Megan, smiling. "You can use anything, as long as they can learn a fighting-type move!"

"But which water-type knows a fighting move?"

"Well, Poliwrath, for one" said Summer. "That's a dual water and fighting-type Pokémon."

"That's true, I hadn't thought about that one."

Summer was checking the Pokémon application on her phone. "Wow, the new software Professor Alder installed makes this so much faster… hey! Look at this!"

"What?" asked Megan and Ella at the same time.

"Azumarill can learn Brick Break! That's a fighting-type move!"

"It is? It can?" Ella's eyes widened and began to shine. "Really? You're not making it up?"

"Not at all, look." She showed Ella Azumarill's page, which clearly showed its moves.

"That means that I can get one?"

"Yeah you can get one! You see, the whole idea behind the requirements is to challenge yourself," said Megan. "Summer, you didn't tell us what your team's requirements are."

"By the end of stage three, I'll need to have three Pokémon of every type."

" _Every type_?"

Summer gave a nod, "Yep." She explained the rest of the requirements as she opened a cupboard and took out a Pokémon treat, feeding one to Cyndaquil and handing two others to Megan and Ella.

"At least you have flexibility. I have no idea where I'm going to find two steel-type Pokémon."

"You already have one. Piplup's final evolution is Empoleon. That's a steel and water-type Pokémon."

Ella looked at Piplup as it enjoyed the treat she'd given it. "That's right!"

Summer smiled, "Look, we're going to have a great time this summer looking for Pokémon. And I'm sure that if we need any advice, we'll be able to ask our teammates. After all, they want us to succeed too! Now, how about we go to the Pokémon store and get all our gear?"

The girls cheered. Megan sat next to Summer with Rowlet, while Ella stayed in the dining area with Piplup, working on her team site profile.

"I can't believe that Professor Briar didn't tell me this… why did she let me believe that I could only use fighting-type Pokémon?"

"Maybe she didn't know?" asked Summer. "Although it doesn't seem likely. As a professor, she should know all the teams and their requirements."

Megan shrugged, "She could have done it on purpose."

"Oh, that would be low. For someone like that to dash a new trainer's hopes? T would make members of Team Valor sound like jerks, being as she's one of their representatives." Summer shook her head, driving the RV out of the Pokémon Center's parking lot. Cyndaquil, curious, sat on her lap and looked at everything.

"Hey!" exclaimed Ella, "there's a battle happening tonight! Team Justice vs. Team Instinct! It counts for the Stage Two Great Lakes Tournament!"

"We'll have to watch it to see how your team does, Ella, and we won't even have to leave the RV, because my father equipped it with satellite. We'll be able to pick it up easily."

"Awesome! Oh, Team Origin is also battling, against Team Valor."

"Now that, I'd really like to see," said Mean. "The standings change every Sunday, don't they? That's tomorrow."

Summer gave a nod, turning onto a commercial street. "Where in the world am I going to park this thing?"

"Aren't more trainers using RVs these days?"

"Yeah, we won't be the only ones, why?"

"Because I thought that parking had been changed last year to accommodate this?"

"That doesn't mean I'm going to find something big enough for us." Summer stopped next to a police car, "Excuse me, officer?"

The passenger side window of the police car lowered, "Hi there. That's quite a big RV you have."

"Yes, sir, I know. I was wondering where I could park it? I only need to park it for an hour somewhere while we go to the Pokémon store."

"Oh, are you a new trainer?"

"Yes, sir."

"The store is actually right in front of the police station, and we've let RVs park in our lot before." Getting out of the car, he walked up to Summer's window, handing her a bright blue plastic card. "There you go, you can put that on the windshield, and when you're ready to leave, you can bring it back inside."

"Thank you, officer!"

"You're welcome. My daughter will become a trainer next year, and she's really excited about it."

Summer smiled, "We look forward to meeting her. Thanks again!"

"No problem, and be careful while driving that."

"I will." As she watched the office walk away, she saw that he had a Pokémon around his neck: a small Ekans.

"Wow. It looks like everyone has a Pokémon now, doesn't it?"

Ella shook her head, "I think that we're noticing it more now, because we have some of our own."

"I think it's also the fact that most people keep their Pokémon inside their Poké Balls. But I heard that there are some Pokémon who hate that."

Summer said nothing, focusing on traffic, which was busy in this part of the suburbs. She found the police station easily, with the Pokémon store directly in front of it.

"That store is huge!" exclaimed Megan. "Look at that!"

Ella laughed, "Well, it has to serve the entire northern suburbs of Chicago, doesn't it?"

"It's not a store," said Summer, pulling into the police parking lot and stopping in a space that had been specifically marked for large vehicles. "It's a mall." She put the plastic card in the window, making sure it was fully visible. "I want to nip inside the station just in case. I'll be right back."

Cyndaquil climbed onto her shoulder, nuzzling her neck gently. Summer smiled, raising a hand to pat her head.

"Nice RV," said someone the moment she had opened the door. It was a female officer who had a Growlithe with her.

"Oh, thanks, officer. Um, we ran into another officer up the street, who told us we could park here. He had an Ekans?"

"Oh, yes, that was Officer Maloney. You're more than welcome to park here for as long as you need. I hope you enjoy the Pokémon store!"

"Thank you," said Summer, signaling to the others, who were already getting out. A few minutes later, having locked up, they made their way across the street to the mall, which was unmistakable.

Pokémon decals were on every window, with a huge Masquerain, the State Pokémon, adorning the double front doors.

"You'd think that we could have had something a little more threatening than a Masquerain as a state Pokémon," said Ella, glancing at it as they went inside.

"Masquerain's pretty," said Summer. "I'd love to have one."

"You would? But… it's a bug."

Summer smiled, "I need to have at least three bug types by the end of stage three, remember?"

Ella shuddered, "I hate bugs. All of them. Except maybe ladybugs."

"I guess that means that you're _not_ going to try to get a Heracross, are you?" asked Megan, giggling. "You know, they're half-fighting."

"I really don't care. If they force me to get a bug type, I quit."

"You're not gonna quit, you've been waiting for this as long as we have!"

A man at the reception was watching them with a smile, "Hello, ladies," he said. "New trainers?"

Summer gave a nod, "Is it that obvious?"

"To me it is, but I've been working here a while. May I see your team cards?" he gathered them and scanned then before handing them back. "You can find all of your teams on the directory posted right there on the wall, but they're all by alphabetical order."

Ella thanked him, and went to the directory.

"Oh, we're all on different floors," she said.

"Then I guess we can surprise each other with a fashion show later on," laughed Summer. "Okay, see you guys in a bit." Still giggling, she went towards the escalator that would lead her to the upper floor.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

With Cyndaquil still perched on her shoulder, she went to the third floor of the mall. There were dozens of new trainers there, each of them with a Pokémon.

"That's a Bulbasaur," she said to Cyndaquil. "It's a grass-type Pokémon. And that over there is a Froakie, which you'd need to stay away from, because it's a water-type."

She wasn't the only one talking to her Pokémon. Everyone was doing the exact same thing, although there were several others who were looking at them indulgently. They were obviously older trainers.

"The novelty will wear off for them soon," said one of them to his friend.

"Hey, I still talk to my Pokémon."

"Yeah, but you're nuts."

Summer tried not to smile. She didn't see why she shouldn't talk to Cyndaquil. Extensive studies had been performed on Pokémon, and scientists had noted that they understood everything that people told them, even if it was in another language. There was speculation that all Pokémon were telepathic and could read people's minds, but that hadn't been proven yet.

Reaching up, she ran a finger over Cyndaquil's snout and stepped off the escalator. She spotted Team Origin's section immediately, and went straight for it, bypassing the sections for Team Motion and Team Mystic.

An attendant was there, and smiled at her as she stopped, looking at the clothes.

"I bet you have a lot of questions."

"I do, actually. I know I can just check everything on my phone, but it's always better to talk to someone."

The girl nodded. She was perhaps a couple of years older than Summer, and wore the same outfit the mall employees did: a white shirt and black pants, but her nametag had the Team Origin logo on it as well. Her name was Olivia.

"It's pretty simple. You need pants, a shirt, and a jacket, along with sneakers and boots. The prices vary depending on the quality of the materials used, although everything looks the same. You can also buy the dress if you'd like – we have the shoes to match it, if needed."

"And these are the tournament clothes?"

"Yes. You can get anything else you want: pajamas, hoodies, sweatpants and jewelry. To make it easier, we put red stickers on the mandatory items."

"Oh, that makes it much easier," said Summer. "Thank you!"

"No problem. Has your card already been loaded with the balance that you had deposited on your account when you signed up?"

Summer shook her head. She remembered now that she'd needed to pay a deposit of two hundred dollars when she'd signed up as a trainer.

"You can do that at the counter then. If you have a credit card, you can also load that amount on your card."

"It's a debit card," said Summer, reaching for a pair of gray cargo pants.

"That's even better. That way we can debit that card and load your Team ID. Anyway, I'll be right here if you have any other questions."

Summer smiled, "Thanks, I appreciate it."

The tournament uniform had been designed in Arceus' colors: silvery gray pants, amber yellow shirts, and emerald green jackets. The sneakers were also gray, while the boots were dark gray combat boots.

"These are surprisingly comfortable," she told Cyndaquil as she tried the boots on. As a matter of fact, the entire outfit she had selected was comfortable.

"That's because of the battles," said Olivia. "Sometimes, you could be locked in a battle for a half hour, and people thought it would be best for everyone to be as comfortable as possible without actually being in their slippers."

Summer started to laugh, "Makes sense. I'll take one of each for now. I guess that if I need anything else, I can go buy it at any Pokémon store?"

"Yes. Every Pokémon store in the world has the basic tournament uniform. The bigger ones will have more variety as far as price is concerned, because we understand that not everyone has the means to get the best things out there."

"Is that why some pants are only twenty-five dollars, but these are at fifty?"

Olivia nodded, "The ones you picked are more durable, and slightly more comfortable. It's not because there's anything wrong with them."

"I guess the cheaper ones will do in a pinch."

"Oh yes. I can't tell you how many times I wasn't able to do laundry before an official battle, and I had to go to the nearest store and get a cheap shirt. The good thing is that nobody can tell unless they look very closely."

"That's useful."

"It really is. Do you want anything else?"

Summer bit her lip. There were so many things that she could have gotten that she didn't know where to start. "What do you think Cyndaquil?"

Cyndaquil made a little sound and hopped down from her shoulder, going towards the accessories shelf. With its little teeth, it pulled out a silver phone case with a gold Team Origin logo on it.

"That's a great idea! Thanks, sweetheart!" Patting Cyndaquil's head, Summer took the phone case, also grabbing a decal to put on her laptop.

In the end, she got more things than she'd meant to. In addition to her uniform, she bought a holster bag to wrap around her leg, a hoodie and yoga pants, a shirt that she knew she'd use as a pajama top, gray uniform shorts, earrings, a watch, and bedding for Cyndaquil, who was overjoyed with the present, snuggling up to her.

"I think that I'll get other stuff later. I don't want to spend all my money in one go, or my parents will kill me."

"Well, the bedding for your Cyndaquil is a necessary expense," said the cashier as he loaded her team card. "There you go. With your team discount, the total comes to two hundred and seventeen dollars and ninety cents. You still have four hundred dollars on your team card, which you can reload at any Pokémon store by using the machines next to the ATMs."

"Thank you very much," said Summer, taking the two bulging bags and going towards the exit to wait for Ella and Megan. As she waited, she watched as other new trainers walked by, some of them with so many bags that they could barely keep upright.

"Looks like everyone's just as excited as we are," said Megan, walking over to her. She also had two bags, and from what Summer could see, most her stuff was shaded pink or violet. "I would have bought more, but I'm glad I didn't. Team Celestial is tenth in the standings right now, so we're not getting a huge discount."

Summer smiled, "I could have easily bought everything in my section. They have awesome stuff."

"I know! I got a new backpack and everything! Look, there's Ella. I think she got more stuff than either of us."

Ella came to them, struggling with her purchases, "I might have gone a little overboard."

Megan started to laugh, "A _little_ overboard? I think that all of us got enough stuff to last us a whole year at least."

"No, because you know we'll buy more stuff if we catch other Pokémon."

Giggling, they left the store, going back to the RV. As they did, they saw another RV pulling into the parking lot.

Summer's heart leapt in her chest. She had only caught a glimpse of him…

"What the heck is the matter with you?" wondered Ella. "Hey, snap out of it! What did you see?"

Megan turned to look at the second RV, which was painted a solid black, "I don't think it's a what. I think it's more of a _who_."

"What are you talking about?"

Summer heard nothing of their conversation as the black RV's door opened and a boy stepped out of it, followed by a Snivy. Her mouth went completely dry.

Ella gave a low whistle, "Now _that_ is a handsome guy."

Handsome. That was the very word for it. The boy was tall, with creamy-pale skin, an angular face and white-blond hair that had been entirely parted to one side, with the other side having been shaved.

"Forget it, Ella. Summer's already in love."

Summer shook her head briefly, as if to clear it, "In… I'm not in… stop that."

"I just mean that you wouldn't mind battling against him… every day for the rest of your life, judging by that look on your face."

"What look? There's no look."

She quickly turned away as the boy walked past them, not sparing them a glance. Summer's heart was beating irregularly, and she felt like she was about to start hyperventilating.

"Girl, you look like you're about to faint!" Ella took the keys from her and opened the RV, guiding her inside. "Sit down… not on the floor!"

Megan followed them inside, stepping around Summer. "Are you okay? I've never seen you lose your head like that over a guy before. Even with Damian."

"Oh, sure mention him…" said Ella, going to the fridge and getting some water. "That's a great way to calm her down."

Megan winced, "I'm sorry. I just mean that I've never seen you act that way before."

Summer shook her head, accepting the water from Ella, "I don't know what happened."

"What happened is that you saw a guy and your body just about shut down." Ella giggled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," she paused. "We should get out of here."

"Whoa, you're not driving when you can barely stand! I'll drive."

"Megan –."

"The only reason your father allowed you to take the RV was because there were going to be two of us driving. I got a special license for it, so there's no way that I'm not driving. Where should we go first? Do you want to start going to Texas now?"

Summer got to her feet shakily and sat on one of the leather benches that made up the dining area. Cyndaquil immediately hopped up on the table, looking worried. "We have to go to the new trainers gathering in Washington D.C. first," said Summer. "We have to be there by Friday."

"I completely forgot about that," said Megan. "Okay then, we'll go to Washington."

"I don't think we're going to need five days to go to D.C." Ella sat down next to Summer, with Piplup on her lap. "But we should get going now. I don't know how fast we can drive this down the highway."

"Oh, that's not a problem. Let's find an area to park without bugging anyone, and we'll figure out where to go." Megan got into the driver's seat and started the engine, beginning to drive out of the police parking lot.

"There's an RV parking area at the lake," Summer told her.

It didn't take them long to get there. There was some traffic, but it wasn't too heavy despite the fact that it was the first real summer weekend of the year. The skies were a beautiful cerulean blue, with not a trace of cloud, and the sun shone down brightly, twinkling between tree branches.

"Hey, does this mean that we can catch every Pokémon we see now?" asked Ella. "Like, if I wanted to, I could catch that Pidgey over there?"

"You could, yes," said Megan from the front seat.

Summer stroked Cyndaquil's head slowly, "But I'd suggest that you look up the list of Pokémon you need for the tournament requirements. You should also get to know your Pokémon before trying to catch anything."

"Maybe we could have a battle, what do you think?"

"That would be fun. But not immediately. I want to figure out which moves Cyndaquil knows first."

"Shouldn't they all know their standard moves?"

Summer looked at Cyndaquil, "Hmm. I don't know. We can check that when we get to the lake. I don't want Cyndaquil practicing fire moves in the trailer."

Ella laughed, "No, I guess that wouldn't be the safest thing in the world."

They got to the lake in time to notice that there were several families there with children, but no Pokémon trainers. When Megan stopped the RV, Summer got up and began to put her new things away.

"Oh, what's _that_ , Summer?" asked Ella, holding up the holster pack.

"It's like a fanny pack that you strap to your leg. It's more convenient for storing Pokéballs, and it looks awesome." She took the pack from Ella and looped it around her waist, using the belt hoops in her shorts and fastening the straps to her right leg. The pack was made of very supple dark gray leather, and had a steampunk look to it, something that had immediately attracted her.

"Oh my God, it looks _awesome_!" cried Megan. "I didn't see them for _my_ uniform!"

"Maybe they ran out?" suggested Ella.

"No. All the shelves were full. We got a backpack." Megan reached for one of her bags, pulling out the backpack she had bought.

"It's all shiny!" said Summer. "The bags they had for Team Origin were yellow, which is why I chose this. It's not as big, but I won't need much during tournaments."

"We get small satchels," said Ella, holding up her own bag, which was blue and white and only big enough to hold a few Pokéballs, from what Summer could see. "It's cute."

"Do you guys get dresses too?" asked Megan, showing them a pale pink and violet sport dress. "Or did you just get pants and a shirt and stuff?"

"Both," Summer told her. "I just didn't want to buy a dress, or I would have ended up paying so much more than I did. Remember, our money has to last us until the end of the summer." She took the bedding she had bought for Cyndaquil and placed it on her bed. "I sleep over here," she said to the Pokémon. "You can either sleep on this, or sleep with me, it's up to –." She started to laugh as Cyndaquil hopped onto the bed and buried herself under the covers. "That answers that question."

"Awe, look at that. I wonder if Rowlet will sleep in my bed, or if it would rather sleep elsewhere."

Ella was already making the bed in the back of the trailer, with Piplup chirping excitedly.

"How do you make the bed that's here, Summer?"

"Oh, easy. It's a hideaway bed, so all you have to do is pull those handles right there, and the bed will come out." Summer did just that, pulling the bed from where it had been beneath the dining area bench. It was already made with fresh sheets, and only missed the pillow, which was in another drawer.

" _I love it_!" cried Megan in such a shrill voice that Rowlet answered her. She immediately lay down, "Oh, it's soft! I think I'll sleep very well here. I won't get stuck, will I?"

Summer shook her head, "No. If you hit that latch on the side, it'll stop the rolling mechanism. You'll even have enough space for Rowlet's bed, or you can put it in that corner over there."

Megan did just that, and Rowlet flew to it, hooting gently.

"Looks like they're all happy. I guess that's all that matters, right?"

"I agree." Summer started as Cyndaquil hopped on her shoulder again, nuzzling her. Smiling, she opened one of the windows, inhaling the fresh air coming from the lake. It was a beautiful day.

She moved from the window and grabbed her laptop, pulling up a roadmap.

"I've been checking which routes we should take across the U.S. I took into account the Pokémon's habitats, as best I could, anyway. It takes about ten hours to get to Washington from here, if we want to try it in one day." She traced the route on the map, showing it to the others.

"We're not going to stop along the way?"

Summer smiled at Ella, "Of course we are. I don't want to drive nonstop for ten hours, especially since we have five days to get there. But we can leave today and see which Pokémon we can find along the way."

"I thought you said that we should wait before we catch any Pokémon," said Megan.

"I did. But I also realized that I personally need to have eighteen Pokémon before the end of the year. You guys also have requirements to fulfill. But even if we don't catch anything, we can see what there is, and document it for our teams. I should really work on my team profile, actually."

It turned out that they all needed to do that, so they spent an hour on their laptops, getting to know some of their teammates and getting information about where certain types of Pokémon could be found around the country. Summer was happy to find that the route they would be taking to Washington offered plenty of opportunities to get Pokémon.

Before turning off her computer, she took Cyndaquil in her arms and snapped a picture with it, using it as her profile picture. Most of the members of her team had done the same thing with their Pokémon, and the variety was astounding. One guy had a picture with a Tyranitar, something that both awed and terrified her.

The enormity of the kind of journey she'd started on hit her.

"Cyndaquil, how are we supposed to beat people with Pokémon like that?"

"Pokémon like what?" wondered Megan.

"Dragon Pokémon like Dragonite and Haxorus."

"Well, if they're on your team, you're not going to have to beat them, are you?"

"I meant in general. You know that there are trainers out there with very strong Pokémon. How are we supposed to beat them?"

Ella glanced over at her, "Your Cyndaquil will evolve into Typhlosion, won't it? That's a really strong Pokémon, and you'll be able to beat grass types easily. Every Pokémon has a weakness when it comes to battling."

Summer knew that Ella was right, but she couldn't help but wonder how she was going to get through everything. Cyndaquil nuzzled her, making a little sound, almost as if to say that everything was going to be okay. She smiled a little, turning off her laptop and setting it back on its charger. It was almost noon.

"Do you guys want to eat anything? We have so much food that we don't even need to buy stuff from the store."

"What kind of sandwiches did your mother make?"

"Turkey salad sandwiches. She's already experimenting with turkey recipes for Thanksgiving, so she had some left over from the restaurant."

"Yum!" said Ella. "My mom just made regular tuna sandwiches."

"I love your mom's tuna sandwiches," said Megan. "She uses celery bits in them."

"What about your parents, Megan?"

Megan smiled, "Pastrami."

Summer's stomach began to growl, "So, how many sandwiches do we have?" She opened the fridge and laughed, "Did they all make four sandwiches? Were they afraid we were going to starve or something?"

"Assuming we only eat one sandwich per meal, that's going to last us until Monday," said Ella.

"No it won't," Megan told her, laughing as well. "Trust me, we're going to finish them by tomorrow."

"I guess we'd better get started then…"

Choosing which sandwich they were going to eat, the girls took their food outside, also taking something for the Pokémon.

Megan picked up the can of food that Summer had taken for Cyndaquil, "That looks pretty generic for them, doesn't it?"

"It's what they had in the store. I read on my team's site that there are workshops that teaches trainers how to make their own Pokémon food. I'm thinking about attending one of them."

"I thought that Pokémon could eat pretty much anything that we did?"

"But some foods are better for them than others." Summer poured the food for Cyndaquil, Piplup, and Rowlet, and watched them as they began to eat. "Is it good?"

Cyndaquil looked at her and nodded enthusiastically.

"That's something at least. But I'd like to be able to make my own food for them as well."

"It sounds like a good idea. We should see whether there are any workshops like that while we travel. It might be cheaper for us to make the food ourselves."

Ella took a bite of pastrami sandwich, "I don't know about that. We would have to get all the ingredients and everything."

"Wait, don't Pokémon also eat regular fruit like apples?" Megan took out her phone and began looking for internet articles, "Yeah, listen to this! _Apple farmers have found that their revenues have increased due to the demand of their fruit for Pokémon_. They'll also eat any kind of berry."

"Some of them eat meat as well, I'd guess," said Ella. "I can't imagine a Pokémon like Aerodactyl only eating fruit."

"I guess that if we're not sure, it'll be best to always keep a supply of Pokémon food with us." She swallowed her bite of sandwich, then went very still. "Oh…"

"Why are you –." Megan turned around, stifling laughter as she saw what Summer was looking at. "Oh, look at that, it's the guy you say you're not in love with. Hey, we could invite him to sit down with us."

"Are you _insane_?" hissed Summer. But Megan had already called out to him. Mortified, Summer kept her gaze focused on Cyndaquil.

The boy turned his head to look at them. Out of the corner of her eyes, Summer saw that he appeared slightly surprised at being addressed as 'blonde kid'.

"Yeah, you! Come on over!"

With a frown, he walked over slowly. "Can I help you?"

"Oh, we were just wondering whether you wanted to share our meal with us. We have plenty to spare."

Summer had to hand it to Megan: the girl had guts.

"Um, I already ate, but thanks."

His voice sounded cold, like the opening of a crypt door. Summer suddenly couldn't finish her sandwich, her mouth having gone completely dry.

"We saw you earlier in the police station parking lot with your Snivy," said Ella. "Did you go get all your stuff from the Pokémon store?"

The boy simply nodded, and before Ella could say anything else, he held up a hand, "I should go. See you girls around."

"Have a great day!" Megan told him brightly.

He glanced at Summer, who only managed a partial smile, then turned around, leaving them where they were.

As soon as he was out of sight, Summer let out a breath, "Oh my God, that was mortifying. What were you thinking?"

"I was just being friendly! He must be from around here if he went shopping at our store. I wonder what school he goes to."

"He's really cute," said Ella. "I'd even go as far as to say that he's hot. But he doesn't seem all that friendly."

Summer picked up her sandwich, wrapping it again. "I think he was probably surprised at being spoken to like that." She could feel her cheeks reddening.

"Like what? All I did was offer him some food. Guys normally love that."

Ella nodded towards Summer's half-finished sandwich, "You're not going to eat anymore? Summer, really… what's gotten into you?"

"I have no idea."

"You really… wow, Summer, you really like this kid. Just like that?"

Summer put her head down on the table, closing her eyes. She'd never reacted that way to a boy before. Sure, she'd had a crush or two, but her last relationship had ended in disaster, which had been one of the driving reasons behind this summer road trip to catch Pokémon.

She'd promised herself that she would be more careful with boys from that point on, and yet… the sight of this boy had sent her heart racing in all kinds of different ways.

"Love at first sight," said Megan. "I've seen it happen."

"It's not _love_ ," whispered Summer. "I don't believe in that, anyway. Besides, I don't even know him."

"Sometimes, that really doesn't matter. It happened to my dad. He said that the first time he saw my mom, even before he spoke to her, he fell in love with her. It wasn't gradual, he said it hit him like a thunderbolt."

"It's what they call it in French, isn't it?" asked Ella. " _Coup de foudre."_

Shaking her head, Summer stood up, "Whatever they call it, it's not my case. I'm not in love. I just… I don't know what's going on. I'm going back inside, I wanna lie down for a minute before we go."

"Okay. We'll be right in."

"Take your time."

Summer extended her arm, and Cyndaquil immediately climbed onto her shoulder. Together, they went back inside the RV. She felt dizzy, the world literally spinning around her. For a moment, she thought she was going to faint. But the feeling passed, and soon, she was stretched out on her bed, asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Summer woke up when she felt the RV moving. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Cyndaquil was right next to her, awake, but calm.

"Hey! You're awake!" said Ella when she climbed down the ladder. "We were wondering whether you were going to sleep for the rest of the day."

"When did we leave?"

"About an hour ago. We thought it would be best to get a head start instead of just hanging out. Besides, kids were getting really interested in the Pokémon."

"Can't blame them. You guys have a couple of cuties."

Megan smiled, "You're one to talk with your Cyndaquil. How are you feeling?"

"I'm good. I guess I didn't sleep as much as I needed to last night."

"Yeah, we've had a big day. There's a camping spot past Gary, IN. We were thinking of spending the night there."

A nod, "That sounds good." Summer picked up Cyndaquil and sat down in the chair behind the driver's seat. "What Pokémon would you like to catch right away?"

"We were just talking about that. I know that I could catch a Pidgey and already have the requirement for a normal flying type, but they're so common. I want something a little more…"

"Exotic?" suggested Megan.

"Right. My favorite Pokémon is Braviary. And in order to get one of those, I'll have to catch a Rufflet."

"Are there any around here?" wondered Summer, picking up a soft brush and running it over Cyndaquil's body. The Pokémon made a satisfied sound and closed its eyes, relaxing instantly.

"No, they're found in canyon-like areas, mostly."

"We were going to go to California anyway, we'll pass by the Grand Canyon. Even if we don't catch any Pokémon, it'll be worth going there."

"You think we won't catch any?" asked Ella.

"Oh, I think we're going to be catching plenty of Pokémon. It'll be fun."

Fun indeed. The girls were looking forward to seeing all the Pokémon on the road. For hours, they talked about them, which ones they would like the most, and which ones they were apprehensive to face in battle.

They also talked about the new trainers gathering they were going to.

"It's in Washington, but is it for every single new trainer in America? Wouldn't that have a lot of people?"

Summer shook her head, "I read somewhere that there was a gathering in Miami as well, and in Los Angeles. Otherwise, the gatherings would be kind of like Woodstock."

"How many new trainers are there, do you know?" asked Ella. "I checked my team's site, but they only gave a number for our team."

"So did mine," said Megan. "There are apparently five hundred new members of Team Celestial this time around."

"It's the same for Team Justice, actually. How about Team Origin, Summer?"

"Same." She did a quick calculation. "That means that nine thousand people will be gathered. I don't see then why it would be that big a mess to sign up to become a trainer, then."

"I actually read about that earlier." Ella looked at her phone, "Apparently, there are only two Pokémon Centers in Chicago where you can get your new Pokémon. The one we went to, and the one in South Chicago. Each center has 125 Pokémon available for trainers, which means… I suck at math, but that there would have been a limited number of centers in the U.S."

"Seventy-two centers in the United States. We need to count Hawaii and Alaska there as well, actually. They probably have one center each."

"No wonder it was such a problem then. Can you imagine how many people would have signed up, only to be rejected?"

"Well, like I said this morning, that's why they have the December date as well. And they can also sign up next year, can't they?"

Summer shrugged, "I don't know. If they can, it would mean that twice the amount of people would be trying to sign up, which would make things worse for everyone."

"They should have more dates for people. Don't you think it would make sense?"

"I dunno," said Megan. "This gathering probably costs them a lot of money. Imagine if they had to do them four times a year instead of just twice."

They were quiet for a few minutes, until Summer leaned over and switched on the radio. It was tuned to PKMN 100, Pokémon Radio, and one of Summer's favorite DJs, DJ Glameow, was currently on.

" _It's all done, ladies and gentlemen! Word has just reached us that all of the new trainers have gotten their Pokémon and have now been fully integrated into their teams._ "

Megan gave a tiny squeak.

" _As you know, none of the new trainers will be allowed to battle for their teams until they have caught at least three Pokémon, so, new trainers, if you would like to start your official battles, make sure to catch as many Pokémon as you can!_ "

"That's right," said Ella. "I'd forgotten all about that! We need to hurry!"

"Calm down, we'll catch Pokémon," Summer told her. "We have two months until school starts again, which is plenty of time to catch them."

DJ Glameow was saying exactly that.

" _Oh, I know that you're all starting to panic now. But a good trainer doesn't catch every Pokémon out there just because it's possible. Studies have shown that most trainers catch an average of three Pokémon a month, although some of them move more slowly, and will only catch one per month._ "

"I guess it depends on what your team needs," said Megan thoughtfully. "Technically, I only need ten different flying Pokémon by the end of Stage One. By the end of the third year, I should have twenty different ones, so I could really take it easy."

"You could. Summer doesn't have that luxury, though."

Summer laughed, "Look, we'll be okay. Pokémon live everywhere, we've seen that. They have their different habitats, like other animals, so all we have to do is figure out what kind of Pokémon we want, and go to that area."

"What if the Pokémon we want is only in Hawaii?"

"Then I'll come with you!" squealed Megan. "I've always wanted to go to Hawaii."

"I don't know if there are any Pokémon that are just indigenous to Hawaii, though. It's possible, but I haven't heard about it."

"Normal animals do," said Ella. "But I guess that's because they evolved there after the world changed and stuff. Pokémon kind of just appeared here. Have we ever found out how?"

Summer shook her head, "Not yet. I asked Professor Alder about it earlier. I know they're still researching, but it might take them decades to figure it out."

Ella turned off her phone and looked down at her sleeping Piplup, "Oh! I noticed something about the boy you like, Summer."

"You did?" Summer's voice trembled. "What's that?"

"That he owns a Blackwood RV."

"A… _what_?"

"I saw your dad's signature on the upper left side of his black RV. He bought it from your dad, so chances are, your father would be able to tell you who he is."

"Do you know how many RVs my father has sold since he took over the business? He only did it because he realized he loved them after restoring this one."

"Go on then, how many has he sold?"

"He sold twenty just last month. And he rents something like three RVs a day. I couldn't ask him to go through all his records to figure out who this kid is. Besides, I doubt he bought it himself. It was probably his family."

"Still, you have an in now."

Summer shook her head, "I can see that conversation unfolding from a mile away. _Hi, Daddy? I saw this really hot guy with a Snivy who has a Blackwood RV, and I was wondering who he was. Could you check your sales records for me?_ " She cleared her throat, "That'll go over really well with him, not to mention my mother."

Megan began to laugh so hard that she choked. "Oh, that's just priceless. I'd love to see your father's reaction if you told him something like that."

"After what happened with Damian, I don't really think they're eager for me to fall for another guy."

"Speaking of Damian, I didn't see him today, but he signed up as a trainer, didn't he?" Ella looked back at Summer.

"He did, but he's at the south side Pokémon Center, as far as I remember. I'm trying not to think about what he'll do to his poor Pokémon, considering…"

"Considering what he did to you?"

Summer didn't answer. She didn't like to think about the circumstances of her breakup with her very first boyfriend. They'd been together for nearly a year, and things had gone well, until he'd tried to take it to the next level. When she'd told him that she wasn't ready…

"I still can't believe he cheated on you. And with three cheerleaders…"

"Good times," whispered Summer. "I'm guessing he would have done it regardless, so I'm glad I didn't give in."

"He didn't do anything else to you?"

"Cheating on me like that wasn't enough?"

"No, I mean…"

Summer shook her head. "No. He tried to kiss me or whatever, but I slapped him and ran away. And I'd like to try to never think about him again."

"Well then, let's speculate about this other mystery guy who's got you all flushed."

"Let's not."

"What else are we supposed to talk about to pass the time? Other than Pokémon, I mean."

"Hey, I like Pokémon!" said Megan. "But I'll admit, I'd love to just talk about guys. Not that I have anybody to talk about, really."

Ella smiled, "Well, we'll probably meet lots of guys at the gathering."

She wasn't wrong. As they got closer and closer to Washington, they began to see more trainers on the road. Kids with their parents who had Pokémon decals on their cars, and new trainers play-battling one another.

They did see Pokémon, several of them, but didn't really stop to catch anything until the final day of their journey, two days before the gathering.

They had just arrived in Pennsylvania, and as they stopped at a campsite for lunch, Summer saw a tail peeking out from under a bush. She jumped, calling Cyndaquil to her.

"That's a Pokémon, Cyndaquil!" she said. For the past two days, she'd been checking Cyndaquil's moves, and had trained with it to figure out which attacks it knew.

Cyndaquil quietly crept up on the tail, touching it lightly.

The Pokémon that had been hiding in the bush jumped, and Summer got a good look at it.

"It's an Eevee!" she cried. But it looked weird. Its color wasn't the soft brown and cream she had seen before. This one was gray with a white furry collar around its neck. "I think it's sick…"

Ella and Megan came up, looking at the Pokémon with interest.

"I've never seen one like that before," said Megan. "You're going to try to get it?"

Summer gave a nod, "I am. Eevee, I'm going to catch you!" she called out to it.

Alarmed, Eevee tried to get away, but Summer shouted for Cyndaquil to tackle it. Eevee tried to move, but Cyndaquil caught its side, sending it flying a couple of feet.

"Flamethrower!" cried Summer.

A thin column of fire shot straight towards Eevee, who moved aside quickly, but not fast enough to avoid its tail getting caught by the fire. Completely panicked, it ran around, trying to extinguish the flames, to no avail.

"One more time, Cyndaquil! Flamethrower!"

This time, Cyndaquil's attack hit Eevee fully. Before the Pokémon even had time to react, Summer had thrown her Poké Ball. It hit Eevee, who was instantly sucked inside it. Eevee attempted to struggle a couple of times, and the ball trembled, but ultimately went still.

"Oh my gosh!"

"You got it, Summer!"

"You caught an Eevee!"

Summer cried out happily, and went to Cyndaquil, who leapt into her arms.

"Good job, Cyndaquil, that was great!" she said, hugging it and kissing its snout. Cyndaquil, overjoyed, made happy sounds and cuddled up to her. Summer walked towards the Poké Ball and picked it up. "My first Pokémon catch. This is awesome."

"You should probably see whether it's okay," said Ella. "I mean, I know that Pokémon tend to restore themselves while they're in their Poké Balls, but how effective can that be?"

"According to everything I've read, it's very effective," said Summer. "Come on out, Eevee!"

There was a flash of red light, and Eevee came out of its ball. But it just lay on the ground, shivering. Its tail and fur collar were singed, and its nose appeared burned.

"Oh… it's hurt!" Summer quickly picked it up and ran with it to the RV. "Hang on, Eevee, I'll take care of you, and you'll be okay."

Cyndaquil looked on in worry as Summer grabbed the Pokémon first-aid kit she'd packed. It was the size of a briefcase, with bottles full of ointments and pills, along with all kinds of bandages.

Summer picked up the ointment that had been made specifically to treat burned Pokémon, and applied some of the cream to Eevee's nose before she examined its fur carefully to determine whether it had been burned anywhere else or whether it had only been its coat that had been singed.

"I think you're mostly stunned," said Summer. "But we'll stop at the first Pokémon Center we see to make sure you're okay. In the meantime, here, have some of this. I know it probably tastes bitter, but it'll make you feel better."

Eevee refused the medication, so Summer used an eyedropper and coated one side of a treat with it, before feeding it to the Pokémon. Eevee made a disgusted sound when the medicine hit its tongue, but didn't spit it out.

"There you go, at least you can eat. I'm sorry, I might have been a little too rough with you just now, but I was so excited. You're the first Pokémon I've ever caught, you know."

Summer gave Eevee a pat on the head and went to get the Pokémon food. Cyndaquil, curious as ever, hopped on her shoulder.

"I know you're hungry, hang on, baby," she said, smiling. Dividing the food into four bowls, she also grabbed an apple and chopped it into pieces to give the Pokémon a little more variety.

Piplup and Rowlet were waiting for her as she brought out the food, clamoring for their lunch.

"Oh, you guys!" said Ella. "Don't act like we've never fed you before. I was there, I saw you eating breakfast!"

Piplup had the decency to look abashed, but still dug into the food enthusiastically. Rowlet and Cyndaquil did the same, and after a while, Eevee came out shyly to investigate its food bowl.

"That's for you, Eevee, go ahead and let me know if it's okay."

Eevee sniffed at the food, and promptly began to eat, not stopping until everything was gone.

"Well, at least its appetite's okay," said Megan, watching it. "But I wonder why it looks like that."

Summer shook her head, "I have no idea. I'll give it a bath and see whether that helps at all, but I don't think that it's got anything to do with it being sick. I think it's just the way it was born, like albinism or something."

"If that's the case, then you've caught yourself a pretty rare Eevee," said Ella.

Moving towards Eevee, Summer picked it up. The Pokémon struggled, clearly not wanting to be handled. When Summer didn't let it go, it began to cry out.

"Whoa, Eevee, calm down! I'm not gonna hurt you!" She tried to soothe the Pokémon, speaking into its ear in a low voice, "It's okay, Eevee. It's okay." Placing a kiss on top of its head, she put it down, and it took off, hiding under the RV and trembling. "Cyndaquil, could you please go get it? But be gentle, okay?"

Cyndaquil did as she asked, making tiny sounds of encouragement. Piplup and Rowlet followed it.

"What's up with that Eevee? I've never heard of a caught Pokémon acting that way before."

"I don't know," said Summer. She decided to give Eevee some space and went to get some food out of the RV for her and the girls. They'd finished the sandwiches, but had stopped by a deli that morning to get some pasta salad and meatballs.

Within moments of them sitting down, Piplup and Rowlet came over to sit under the table in case a scrap of food fell from their plates. Cyndaquil appeared too, slowly, followed by Eevee, who was still scared.

"Do you think that Eevee might have been caught before?" asked Megan.

Summer took a bite of pasta and nodded, "I was wondering that myself. Maybe it was caught and abandoned, which would explain why it's so skittish around people." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eevee inching closer to them.

"Abandoned? Who would do that?"

"The same people who abandoned regular cats and dogs before Pokémon ever arrived," said Ella.

Cyndaquil hopped on Summer's lap, trying to eat the food on her plate. "Really? You didn't have enough to eat with everything that I gave you earlier?"

"Quil!" cried Cyndaquil, trying to look innocent.

"Don't you try to pull that on me!" said Summer, laughing and cuddling Cyndaquil. "You little cutie, I can't say no to you. But if I keep feeding you, you're going to get fat!" She took a piece of celery from her plate and offered it to Cyndaquil, who sniffed it before gobbling it and opening its mouth for more. "No, no, that's enough." She kept eating, half-ignoring the way Cyndaquil put a paw on her hand, still hoping for more food.

Through it all, Eevee watched, and crept closer. Summer saw it, and accidentally-on-purpose dropped a piece of celery on the grass, so that Eevee could have it. She carefully clamped her hands on Cyndaquil to prevent it from getting it, and was pleased when Eevee ate the vegetable, crunching it softly.

"Was it good, Eevee?" asked Summer, turning her head to look at the Pokémon.

Eevee froze in its tracks, looking trapped.

"If you want some more, you can come up here, and I'll let you and Cyndaquil share it together." She went back to her meal, pretending not to notice the way Eevee's ears were moving as it worked out what to do. But ever so slowly, it crept closer until, in one bound, it hopped on her lap.

Megan's eyes got wide, but she wisely said nothing.

Grabbing two napkins, Summer placed a couple of meatballs on them, for both Cyndaquil and Eevee. "Don't get used to this, you two. This is a one-time thing only. Next time, once you're done with your meal, there will be no more until dinner." With that said, she finished her own food, occasionally stroking Cyndaquil but leaving Eevee alone, not wanting to scare it again. Once it was done eating, Eevee just looked at her, not tearing its gaze away.

Megan began to clear the dishes, and Summer made to stand up.

"I should give Eevee a bath. It's been out here on its own for some time, I think."

"Will you give one to Cyndaquil as well?" asked Ella.

"Oh, sure, put a fire-type Pokémon in water, that should be great for it."

Ella started laughing, "Sorry… I forgot."

"Cyndaquil gets a nice rubdown every night. But Eevee has thick fur, so I think that it should be washed. Not sure how it's going to like the idea, though."

Cyndaquil climbed on her shoulder again, and Summer gently put her hand on Eevee's back, "I'm going to pick you up now, Eevee, but I don't want you to be scared, okay? I'm not going to hurt you."

Eevee tensed, but didn't struggle this time when Summer picked it up.

She nuzzled Eevee and placed it on the picnic table they'd eaten on, and asked Cyndaquil to stay with it. A few minutes later, she came out carrying a small metal tub, along with Pokémon shampoo.

"Hey, Ella, could you ask Piplup to fill this tub for me, please?"

"Sure!" Ella walked over with Piplup on her shoulder. "Piplup, darling, could you please use your Water Gun to fill the tub? Summer wants to give Eevee a bath."

Piplup squeaked and began filling the tub. It was done in a couple of minutes, after which Summer asked Cyndaquil to warm the water by using its Flamethrower attack.

"That's much more fun than drawing regular old warm water," said Megan, walking over.

Summer smiled, "Here, Eevee, is that too warm for you?"

Eevee investigated the water, then looked at Summer suspiciously.

"Here, look." Summer put her hand into the water, finding that it was pleasantly warm. "See? It's just to wash you." She picked Eevee up again and carefully put it in the water.

Eevee seemed very confused. It put its nose in the water, immediately pulling up again and looking around. Putting her hands in the water again, Summer made sure to wet Eevee's fur thoroughly before squeezing some shampoo in her hand.

"We're going to make you all pretty and make sure that the soot from the battle is completely gone." She began to wash the Pokémon, and Eevee relaxed under her touch. With its fur wet, it became obvious that Eevee was very thin. Too thin. "We're going to find a Pokémon Center once I'm done washing it."

"You don't think it's doing well?" asked Ella.

"It's really skinny. See? Feel here. Those are its hip bones. I don't think I'm supposed to feel those."

"No wonder it ate so quickly earlier."

Worried now, Summer washed Eevee quickly, watching as the water it was in turned darker. "There you go!" she said, trying to sound happy. "You're all clean! Look how pretty you are!" Taking a towel, she lifted Eevee out of the water and started to dry it, rubbing it briskly.

"I'll empty the tub," said Megan.

"Thanks, Megan," Summer told her, bringing Eevee inside the RV. "Let's see if you like the blow dryer."

Eevee _did_ like the blow dryer, as it turned out. Closing its eyes, it stayed there, enjoying the warmth until Summer was done.

"Wow. Its coloring really _is_ different, now that it's clean, it's easier to see."

Summer gave a nod, taking a brush and brushing Eevee's fur. She was careful, aware of how little muscle mass her Pokémon had. She felt like crying. How bad must things have been for Eevee for it to have gotten itself into such a state?

"It'll be okay," said Megan, coming inside. We'll take Eevee to the Pokémon Center here, and it'll get all better, don't worry." She grabbed her phone, looking up the closest Pokémon Center. "Oh, we're lucky! Apparently this is a popular battle spot, so there's a small center only five minutes away."

They were on their way quickly afterwards, Summer in the driver's seat with both Eevee and Cyndaquil on her lap. Eevee was trembling now, and Cyndaquil was trying to keep it warm, pressing close.

"Look, there it is," said Ella.

"Go, I'll park," said Megan as Summer stopped in front.

"Thanks," said Summer, as Cyndaquil hopped on her shoulder. She cradled Eevee in her arms and got out of the RV, running towards the Pokémon Center.

A nurse with dyed pink hair was at the reception, checking something on her computer. She looked up when Summer entered and immediately got to her feet. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"I just caught this Eevee a couple of hours ago. It got a little banged up in the battle with my Cyndaquil, but it was okay, except that it was really skittish around me. When I picked it up, it started to scream, and when I washed it, I realized it was really skinny."

"Was it that color when you got it?" asked the nurse.

Summer gave a nod, handing Eevee over. The second she did that, the Pokémon went completely berserk, scratching at the nurse and squealing its head off. Its paws stretched towards Summer. Nurse joy released it immediately, and Eevee leapt into Summer's arms, shivering. Summer actually saw a tear leaking out of its eye.

"What in the world was _that_?" asked Summer, completely stunned. She held Eevee close, feeling it trembling more than ever. "Eevee, I'm not going to leave you!"

"You say that you just caught this Pokémon?" asked the nurse.

"Yes."

The nurse nodded, "Okay, bring it in here. I have a hunch, but I need to check it."

Summer obliged, stepping behind the counter and following the nurse into another room. She had stayed in the hospital once when she'd been younger, and this was very similar, except that the beds she could see were, for the most part, much smaller. All of them were empty.

They turned down a brightly lit corridor, and stepped into a large room with several machines in it.

"Here, could you please put Eevee into the scanner? It won't hurt, it'll just give me all of its measurements."

"Okay. Eevee, I'm just putting you down for a second, okay? I'll be right here." She set Eevee down, but the Pokémon leapt back into her arms. "Oh, Eevee. An hour ago, you wanted nothing to do with me, and now you don't want me to let you go." She put it down again and rubbed its head, "It's just for a little while, to see if you're okay. See? You can look at me. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

Summer stepped away from Eevee, and a glass bell came down to cover Eevee. Panicked, Eevee began to scream, the sounds deadened by the glass. Summer quickly stepped closer to it. Tears glistening in her eyes, she put her hand against the glass, seeing Eevee pressing itself against it. "Why is it acting like that? All wild Pokémon don't do this… do they?"

"No, don't worry. But this Eevee was definitely captured before, and released."

"You mean it was abandoned."

"Judging by its reactions, yes."

"How can you tell that it was captured?"

"Well, every Pokémon gets marked once it's been caught. You leave your mark on each Poké Ball, which gets transferred to the Pokémon when you catch it. Eevee has your mark on it now, but there's another very faint one there. As you can see here, it's broken. It's invisible to the naked eye, but the machine can detect it, along with Eevee's weight and overall physical condition." The nurse pressed a button and the glass bell withdrew.

Summer quickly picked up Eevee, who seemed like it was in shock. "Hey, Eevee. I'm here, you see? Everything's okay." She held the Pokémon close, running her hand through its fur. "Why is it shaking like that?"

"Again I can only speculate, but it's behaving the way normal animals do after they've been abandoned. Eevee has bonded to you, and even leaving it for a second has caused it some kind of pain. But this will pass, once you spend more time together."

"Is it normal for it to be bonded to me so quickly?"

"Did you bond quickly with Cyndaquil?"

Summer nodded, "Yes. At least, I guess I did. I just got it a few days ago."

"But you're already bonded with it, I can see it for myself. And Eevee's bonded to you as well."

Summer looked down at Eevee, "How is it?"

"It's much thinner than it should be, which leads me to think that when its trainer abandoned it, it barely tried to fend for itself. From the way its mark has faded, I guess that it was abandoned about a month ago."

"A month? It was waiting for its trainer for a month?"

"Apparently. It's not in the same condition as a wild Pokémon would be, as they normally can take care of themselves without any issue. But once a Pokémon has been caught and once it's bonded with its trainer, the abandonment can shock it."

"But why would anybody abandon a Pokémon?"

The nurse shook her head, "I really couldn't say. Maybe its trainer didn't like its color, or maybe it was smaller than another Eevee he or she saw. Now, if you'll come with me, we can see about what kind of diet Eevee should be on so that it can quickly gain weight. You fed it, I presume?"

"Yeah, it had lunch with my Cyndaquil and my friends' Pokémon, Piplup and Rowlet. But it was still hungry, so I gave it some of my meatballs, which it shared with Cyndaquil." She smiled, "I didn't want Cyndaquil to get jealous because I gave food to Eevee."

"Oh, I understand. I'll give you something for Eevee so that it will be able to gain some weight. You'll need to feed it smaller meals, but more often, until it reaches its optimal weight."

Summer nodded, "I'll make sure to take very good care of it. You hear that, Eevee? I'm going to take care of you."

Eevee merely pressed itself against Summer, still trembling. It gave a small and nearly inaudible cry, wondering what was going on.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Pokémon bonding to their trainers has always been an obscure area for me. In the anime, most Pokémon love their trainers, no matter what happens, and it seems to happen quickly. In the games, there are a few things we need to do in order to get the Pokémon to like their trainers.

In this case, I'm kind of making it up as I go along, but using both elements of the anime and the games.

Lunarelle


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

The nurse looked at Summer and smiled, "Your Eevee's going to be all right. I suggest that you let it rest for a while, and don't battle it for at least a month, unless you see some big changes with it. You can take it to a Pokémon Center whenever you want to check on its progress."

"Thank you for everything," said Summer.

"It's my pleasure." The nurse went into another room and came back with a bag of food, "You can add this to Eevee's diet in the morning and in the evening. When you run out, you'll be able to buy more at any Pokémon store in the country."

Summer gave the nurse a smile, putting the food in her bag. "I'll make sure to do that," she said.

She followed the nurse back to the reception area, where she found Megan and Ella waiting for her.

"Hey! How's Eevee?" asked Ella, coming forward.

"I think it'll be all right."

"Oh, it'll be better than all right with some food, rest, and love. And if you think that there's anything wrong, bring it to another center right away, and they'll take care of it. But for now, just keep doing what you're doing, and you'll see results soon."

"Thanks again for your help. And I'm sorry Eevee scratched you."

"Oh, it's all right, it was just scared."

Summer took out her team ID, "How much do I owe you?"

"Oh, thirty dollars." She took the ID from Summer, scanning it and tapping a few words on her computer before handing the card back.

"Decent!" said Ella.

"Pokémon care should be affordable to everyone," the nurse told her. "Otherwise, nobody would bring them in, and they would suffer. And if someone really can't afford it, the teams usually step in to help."

Summer smiled, "That's great. I'm happy to know that most people care about Pokémon." Her smile faded, "Is there any way to find out who Eevee's trainer was?"

"Only if it had been brought to a Pokémon Center beforehand. But even if I had that information, I wouldn't be able to give it to you."

"Because you wouldn't want people to get revenge?" asked Megan.

"Exactly. All you need to know now is that Eevee's going to be taken care of and loved."

Summer hugged Eevee close, while patting Cyndaquil with her other hand, "They both will."

"As will any other Pokémon that we get," said Ella.

"That's what I like to hear. I'll let you girls be on your way. But remember no battling your Eevee until it's feeling better."

"I'll remember," said Summer. "Goodbye!"

Waving, they left the Pokémon Center and walked towards where Megan had parked the RV. It was starting to get cloudy, and a slight wind indicated that a storm was on its way.

"What do you think?" asked Ella. "Should we keep driving some more, or stay here? You know, in case Eevee needs more help?"

"I think that we can drive a few more hours. I'm sure there are plenty of Pokémon Centers between here and D.C." Summer took the keys from Megan and opened the RV, climbing inside.

"Are you going to keep Eevee with you while you drive?"

Summer nodded at Megan's question. "I'll keep it close. It freaked out completely when I handed it to the nurse. I don't want it to think that I'm going to abandon it too." She went to the drawer where she had put her things away, and took out a light scarf that she'd worn recently. Setting Eevee down for just a second, she unfolded the scarf and made a little nest between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat.

"The others are going to be jealous," said Ella.

"No they won't. I can't keep Eevee on me the whole time, or Cyndaquil for that matter, so they'll both have enough space here to curl up together." Going to the fridge, she got herself a bottle of cherry soda, "So, would you like to go now? If we drive for the rest of the day, I'm pretty sure we can make it to Washington by tonight."

"Oh, can't we drive a little slower?" asked Ella. "You've just caught your first Pokémon… Megan and I would like to do the same."

Summer grinned and took out her phone, "I mapped out some Pokémon routes along this way. The detour would only take half an hour or so. There's a natural reservoir about an hour away that I think has some Pokémon that you might be interested in, both of you."

"Let's go! Let's go!" cried Megan. She grabbed a soda for herself and hopped in the passenger seat while Ella sat behind Summer.

Smiling, Summer called Eevee and Cyndaquil, explaining to them where they could stay while she drove. "You see? I'm right here," she told Eevee, rubbing its head gently. "You'll be able to see me the whole time." Sitting down, she buckled her safety belt. The Pokémon immediately lay down on her scarf, Cyndaquil going to sleep while Eevee kept its eyes on her.

"Unbelievable," said Ella. "When I think that just a few hours ago, Eevee wouldn't even look at you. Now it can't stop."

"It's genuinely afraid that you're going to leave it," commented Megan as Summer started to drive.

"Apparently, Pokémon feel traumatized when they're abandoned, the same as any other creature," said Summer. "Remember how dogs used to be tied to furniture outside a house after owners had moved? Even if they got loose, they refused to leave because they kept hoping that their owners would return."

"Yeah, please don't mention that, it still upsets me." Megan shuddered, "Our neighbor found a dog like that, some kind of mixed breed that had been left on an old mattress. They found the dog's previous owner and arrested her."

"Wish someone would arrest the monster that abandoned Eevee like that." Once again, Summer felt like she was going to cry. She'd never been able to understand why anybody would abandon an animal they'd promised to take care of. And it was worse with Pokémon, because they seemed so human somehow. Keeping a hand on the wheel, she reached over and ran her hand over Eevee, then over Cyndaquil.

"Don't think about it."

"Megan's right, Eevee's going to be fine. You're already taking great care of it."

Summer wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Hey, it's okay, Summer. Just think of all the great things you're going to do with Eevee and Cyndaquil. Who knows where this is going to take us, but it's going to be great, for the most part."

Ella reached over and rubbed her shoulder, "I guess that some days will be harder than others, but it will be worth it in the end."

Little by little, Summer got herself under control. Cyndaquil, sensing she was sad, crept closer to press its face against her, and Eevee did the same. "I'm all right, you guys," she sniffled.

Megan watched them and smiled, "See? They both love you. I wish Rowlet loved me like that."

"It does!" cried Ella. "Don't pretend you didn't notice that it slept on your pillow instead of on its bed last night. I saw it myself."

Megan started to laugh. "Okay, okay. I wonder whether others will like me too. What Pokémon are near that reservoir, do you know?"

"I'd venture that there are some water Pokémon, there. And probably some flying and bug types as well."

Excited, Megan and Ella began to talk about what kinds of Pokémon they might see there. For her part, Summer was content to be quiet for a while, occasionally patting Eevee and Cyndaquil.

As they drove, they did see some Pokémon, but they knew that they weren't nearly experienced enough to try to catch them. A Rapidash followed them for a while, neighing softly when Summer waved at it. Megan gasped when she saw a huge Pidgeot, flying overhead, its plumage resplendent compared to the plain pigeons around it.

"It's _huge_! Look at that! You could ride it!"

The idea of riding a bird the way one rode a horse didn't really appeal to Summer, but Megan appeared ecstatic at the prospect.

"I wish I could get a Pidgeot that looked like that," she said wistfully.

"You'd have to catch a Pidgey first, and have it evolve."

"Because that wouldn't take long at all, would it?"

Summer started to laugh, "What, you think that you can evolve your Pokémon in just a second? The only way you can do that is by using an evolutionary stone."

"And even if you use a stone, you'd have to make sure that you knew exactly what you were doing," added Ella.

"I know, I know. But you can't blame me. I mean, look at it!"

"Well, why don't you catch a Pidgey, then? You said you wanted something a little more exotic, but if you want a Pidgeot, that might be the only way to do it."

"I can catch a Pidgey any old time, can't I?"

Ella rolled her eyes, "Look at that. Barely a trainer a couple of days, and she's already dissing the Pidgey."

Megan turned around, looking offended, "I would never do that! Pidgey are adorable! I just… it would be so cool to be able to catch that Pidgeot…"

Summer took an exit, "Well, maybe someday you will. But you'll need very strong Pokémon, since Pidgeot are last in their evolutionary lines. It might take less time to train a Pidgey. Not to mention that it'll be loyal to you because you will have trained it for so long."

"I'll need to catch one anyway, for my team's requirements. I just want to see… is that the reservoir?"

A picturesque lake had opened up in front of them. It was almost perfectly oval, indicating that it was man-made instead of natural, and a small village stood on one side of it.

"It's so cute!" exclaimed Ella. "Look how clear that water is! Can we actually park here?"

"Yeah, look, there's a parking over there," said Summer.

Ella suddenly cried out, "Oh my gosh! Look! _Look_!"

"What?" asked Megan, looking in every direction.

"It's a Pancham! I'm sure that's what it was! Come on, Piplup!"

"Wait until I stop the – Ella!" Summer braked suddenly as Ella opened the door to the RV and raced outside. "She's insane…"

"She's just excited."

"I get that she's excited, but there are no other trainers here – it's not like she's going to lose that Pancham." But she was smiling as she pulled into the parking lot and turned off the engine. "I hope she gets it."

"Let's go look!"

They did so. Eevee and Cyndaquil, both startled by Ella's outburst, were wondering what was going on. Eevee leapt into Summer's arms and Cyndaquil took its place on her shoulder.

They found Ella at the edge of the lake, calling out an attack. Piplup obeyed, immediately, pouncing on the Pancham and hitting it with Pound.

"That's a tiny Pancham," said Megan. "I thought they were bigger in stature."

Pancham suddenly fell face-first in the water, and Ella threw a Poké Ball at it. They all waited, watching as the ball quivered. It took several seconds, during which Ella kept her eyes tightly closed, but eventually, the Pancham gave up.

"All right, Ella!" cried Megan. "Good job!"

Ella was staring at the Poké Ball, mesmerized. A second later, she screamed and started jumping up and down, "I got it! I got a Pancham! We did it, Piplup, _we did it_!"

Summer tried and completely failed to keep a straight face. She started laughing so hard that tears ran down her face.

"Seriously, if I react like that when I catch my first Pokémon, you're allowed to hit me," said Megan. "She sure looks happy, though."

"I think you'll be happy too, when you catch your Rufflet."

" _There are Rufflet here?_ " she cried.

"No, no," said Summer. "But you see your reaction? That's what I mean: you'll be happy." She smiled and walked to where Ella was celebrating with Piplup, "Congratulations, Ella! How did you manage to catch it so quickly?"

"Piplup knows Peck! I didn't realize that, and as soon as I used that move, Pancham passed out!"

Megan joined them, "Pancham is a fighting-type Pokémon. They're really weak against flying moves."

"So, I really did it? It wasn't a fluke?"

"You really did it," Summer told her. "See? You were made for this."

Ella beamed at her, hugging her Poké Ball close to her chest. "My first capture. Oh, it feels awesome to know that Piplup and I were able to do this!"

Megan grinned, "It's a great Pokémon, too. Pancham's supposed to be really strong, and when it evolves into Pangoro, I don't think many can stop it."

"Except maybe flying types," said Summer.

"Okay, yes, so I guess if you fight against my team, you shouldn't use fighting Pokémon."

"Aren't you giving away a secret or something?" asked Ella with a smile.

Megan clamped a hand on her mouth, "Oops. But you guys are my best friends."

"Yeah, we are. Anyway, I guess we should look for more Pokémon to catch or something. I'm sure there are some more around here."

"Oh, hang on, Summer. I want to introduce you guys to Pancham!" Ella flicked her wrist and her Poké Ball opened.

Pancham came out, curled into a tight ball. Opening one eye, it looked around, spotting Piplup. Immediately, it got to its feet and charged, giving an angry cry.

"Whoa…" whispered Summer.

"Piplup! Watch out!"

Caught completely off guard, Piplup went flying into the lake, landing hard in the water. Pancham looked around again. It saw Eevee and Cyndaquil, and made for Summer, ready to hit her to get to her Pokémon.

"Oh my God, what in the world did you catch?" cried Megan. "Do something!"

"Pancham! Return!"

Pancham, who had been inches away from Summer, was instantly sucked back into the Poké Ball, crying out indignantly.

"What was _that_?"

Megan looked stunned. "I don't understand. Why would it behave like that?"

"Maybe it's angry that you caught it?" suggested Megan.

"Maybe… I didn't think it would act like this."

Summer put a hand on Ella's shoulder, "Look, Pokémon have different personalities, just like we do. Some of them might be more aggressive, while others will be more docile. I'm sure Pancham will calm down soon enough."

Megan glanced down, seeing that Piplup had dragged itself out of the water. She picked it up. "Can we go? I don't really wanna stay here anymore."

"Aw, come on, don't be like this. You caught a Pancham! That's awesome, Ella, really!" Megan hugged her and gave Piplup a gentle pat on the head.

"She's right, it's awesome," said Summer. "And maybe you can ask your teammates for advice on what to do with Pancham. I'm sure they'll be able to help you out."

Ella didn't seem convinced, but after a few minutes, she sat down, examining Piplup, "Are you okay?" she asked it.

"Piplup!" said the Pokémon, flapping its little wings excitedly.

"You see? Even Piplup is all right. All it needs is some rest, and it'll be just fine."

Summer scratched Eevee behind the ears, "Why don't you and Cyndaquil run around for a little while before we get back on the road?" Eevee cuddled up to her as Cyndaquil did as she suggested, hopping from her shoulder and running in the grass. Rowlet joined it, chasing it playfully.

"Eevee still doesn't want to leave you, does it?"

"It's only been a few hours. I'm sure it'll get tired of me in a couple of days." Summer smiled. "Do you see any other Pokémon around here?"

"Oh, you won't find many," came a voice behind her. It was an elderly gentleman, who was accompanied by a dog-like Pokémon, a Lilipup. "We had three trainers who came from here, and they've pretty much caught everything that stayed by this lake. They only left a mischievous Pancham that tended to attack every Pokémon it came across."

"Ah… our friend Ella just caught it."

"Oh ho! Your friend likes to live on the edge, does she? That's good for us, it means that Pokémon will come back to this area."

"What kind of Pokémon were here?"

"Oh, there were a few Butterfree and Pidgey. Pancham drove away every other Pokémon that wasn't a flying-type. Before it came along, we had several Cubone as well, but they're all gone now."

"That's too bad," said Ella. "Is Pancham really a mean Pokémon?"

"Oh no, I don't think that it's mean. It's just what we call a scrapper. It'll fight anything it can, anytime it can. People around here think that it's because it's getting ready to evolve into a Pangoro, but it's been here so long that we can't figure out why it hasn't yet."

"You don't have a Pokémon Center around here, do you?"

"Little lady," said the man to Summer, smiling, "we don't even have a post office around here, let alone a Pokémon Center. That's all in the next town over."

Megan crouched down to look at Lilipup, "This one's a real cutie."

"It sure is," agreed the man. "Well, thank you for catching that Pancham. I think everyone will be very happy about that. If you want Pokémon, you can head into the woods about twenty miles from here, you'll find plenty of them. One of our trainers even came back with a Growlithe."

"Thank you, Sir, but we're actually headed down to Washington. I guess we'd best be on our way." Summer whistled, and Cyndaquil came racing towards her. Jumping, it landed at her feet with Rowlet circling over it.

They all left a short while later. Ella was still feeling a little down, but Megan was excited for her.

"Just think! You've caught a Pokémon that can really battle! Just imagine what you'll be able to do with it!"

"I guess," said Ella quietly. "And I suppose that if I really want to beat Pancham down, I'll have Piplup battle it with Peck."

"I don't know whether that's the best way to go. It might get angrier if you do that. I don't think it's used to losing."

"But if it constantly wants to battle, I'll need to find a Pokémon that it can fight."

"Don't worry. You'll find a way to calm it down."

They were off again, driving across Pennsylvania and avoiding all major towns to keep away from traffic. It started to rain as the sun went down, thunder lighting up the sky and scaring Eevee so much that it jumped on Summer's lap, squealing shrilly.

"I think we'd better stop somewhere for the night," she said, taking a hand off the wheel to pat Eevee's trembling body. "I don't want to drive in this."

"Will we make it to Washington on time?" wondered Megan.

"Oh yeah, don't worry about that. We're only about three hours away, so we'll get there tomorrow. I just don't want to drive at night in the rain."

They found a camping spot and parked along a wall, hoping that this would shelter them a little from the storm. The Pokémon were agitated, but refused to go into their Poké Balls, preferring to remain with them.

The storm raged on for most of the night. Eevee slept curled in Summer's arms, whimpering when thunder roared around them. Even Cyndaquil was scared, burrowing under the covers, pressed against Summer, and refusing to come out until morning.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

The storm abated, and by the next morning, the skies were blue again, although clouds lingered on the horizon.

Summer fed Eevee, Cyndaquil, Rowlet and Piplup a good breakfast while Ella took Pancham away to see whether she could figure it out. She came back, looking only a little troubled.

"It didn't eat?" asked Megan.

"Oh, it ate quickly. But it tried to use Headbutt on me after it was done with the food."

"At least it didn't try running away like it did last night," said Summer. "That's progress."

"That's true." Ella stretched, "Should we go? It's already eight o'clock."

"Yes. When we get to Washington, I'd like to find a Laundromat. I really need to wash some stuff."

"Sounds good to me," said Megan. "I was wondering something actually. The RV is awesome to travel in, but…"

Summer started to laugh, "I knew you'd get tired of it after a few days! I told you!"

"No! It's not that. It's just that it's really cumbersome in big cities. So I was thinking that maybe we could buy some bikes or something if we wanted to explore some areas."

"That's a great idea, actually," said Ella, nodding. "We can look for a bike shop somewhere. We have storage space for bikes, don't we, Summer?"

"There's a bike rack at the back of the RV."

"Perfect!"

"Bikes are expensive, though."

"Less with our discounts. The ranks didn't change, so we'll get the same discounts we got at the regular stores. I saw bikes at the Pokémon store in Chicago."

"It won't hurt to look," conceded Summer. She knew it was a good point, and that they couldn't take the RV everywhere. Having a bike would be good for them, and would allow them to get more exercise.

"We can always ask our parents to put more money on our accounts if we need it."

Megan snorted, "That'll happen."

"How much can they cost?"

"Oh, they can go between seventy-five to about two thousand dollars. I looked into it not long ago. But in any case, we'll see at the store."

"So, are we going now?"

"We're going."

It was obvious that the previous night's storm had been a bad one. Leaves and twigs littered the roads, but they didn't come across any downed trees, which was a blessing. As they drove, Megan turned on the television, catching a Stage 3 match between a woman from Team Origin and a man from Team Chronos.

"Oh, check it out! That guy has a Gabite! And it's going against Skarmory!"

Unable to see, Summer merely listened to the commentary, which was enough for her to get an idea of what was going on.

" _Look at this, everyone! It… yes! It definitely looks like the challenger's Gabite is evolving!_ "

"It is _not_!" cried Ella.

" _There it is!_ " called the commentator. " _Gabite has evolved into Garchomp_!"

"Wow," said Summer quietly. "The guy must have timed his battle well."

"No, seriously, Summer, you have to come take a look at this!" said Megan.

Summer laughed, "You think this RV comes equipped with automatic pilot or something?"

"Well, no, but you can pull over, can't you?"

"Would you rather get to Washington or have me watch a match? I can hear it from here, Meg." She smiled as she heard the crowd going wild. Apparently the Garchomp had used Dragon Rage, but Skarmory had avoided it by flying up high.

The match went on for another twenty minutes. Megan and Ella were cheering, Summer catching their screams more than what the commentator was saying, but the meaning was clear enough: Garchomp wasn't making much headway with Skarmory, who was resisting most of its moves.

"Steel-types resist Dragon-type moves," she said. "That trainer made a very good decision by using Skarmory."

"And it looks like Garchomp doesn't know any moves other than dragon-type moves," said Ella. "This is fascinating! Oh! Did you see that?"

" _Skarmory uses a beautiful Steel Wing attack to clip Garchomp's arm_!" cried the commentator. " _The Pokémon wasn't fully able to avoid that one!_ "

"Garchomp is bleeding!" said Ella. "But it doesn't look like it wants to quit."

However, that was just what happened. Skarmory was too strong an opponent for the newly-evolved Garchomp.

"No, there's nothing to be done, that Skarmory simply has too much experience!" said the commentator. "Olivia Sandoval from Team Origin is the winner of this Stage Three battle!"

"That was epic!" cried Ella as the crowd on television went absolutely wild. "Your team will probably rise in the standings now because of that match, Summer!"

Summer glanced back at her, smiling, "It's Thursday. There are plenty of other battles happening between now and Saturday evening before the Pokémon League tallies up all the points."

Megan came to sit in the passenger side again, carrying a bag of cookies, "You need to have three Pokémon at least before you can be considered for battles, right?"

It was Ella who answered, "Yeah. They hammered out that rule almost immediately because some people were battling with only one Pokémon, while their opponents had two or three."

"And the Pokémon have to be verified."

"Oh, that much I know," said Megan. "Whenever you catch a new Pokémon, it's good to take it to a Pokémon Center so that it can be registered to your team account. That way, the League can be sure you're battling with your own Pokémon and not someone else's."

People tried every year to use other people's Pokémon in battles. The last case of cheating had happened a couple of months previously, when a boy from Team Legend had tried to pass off his friend's Gyarados as his very own. The team had suffered greatly because of it, and was ranked amongst the lowest, unable to get higher in the standings.

"In any case," said Ella, "It's almost impossible now to cheat that way, because all Pokémon have to be registered before the battles."

Megan munched on a cookie, "It's got to be horrible pressure for the trainers, though, to know that a loss could make their team tumble in the rankings."

"Of course it's a lot of pressure," said Ella, reaching over and taking a cookie from Megan's bag. "Especially when you think that there are a lot of people who depend on the discounts to live on."

"So, no stress once we start battling!" laughed Megan.

"Stage One battles aren't ranked as highly as the other. The team would have to lose something like ten Stage One battles in a row for the team rankings to change. Stage Three battles are ranked much more severely, because the trainers have more experience."

Summer couldn't wait until she started to battle against other trainers. She'd never excelled at anything before, but this, she felt was something she could be great in. Excitement curled in her belly as they crossed the state border and got that much closer to Washington.

They stopped for gas a few miles outside of the country's capital, not wanting to navigate the city's traffic on a near-empty tank.

"I'm sorry you haven't found any Pokémon to catch," said Ella to Megan as they stretched their legs a little.

"It's no big deal. Lots of people go to the new trainers gathering without having a second Pokémon."

"Hey Megan!" called Summer from where she was standing near the RV. "Look!"

Megan turned her head and gasped.

A Murkrow stood ten feet away from her, pecking at some discarded wrapper on the ground.

"Oh my gosh, I've always wanted a Murkrow!" she hissed. "Rowlet! Go get it!"

Rowlet obeyed her, flying straight for Murkrow, who looked up in surprise.

"Use Tackle!"

Murkrow avoided the move with a squawk, flapping its wings and lifting itself off the ground.

"Use Leafage, Rowlet!"

Leaves began to swirl away from Rowlet's body and hitting Murkrow, who barely appeared affected by the move.

"Megan! Murkrow's a dark-type Pokémon! Grass attacks won't help you!"

"Now she tells me," muttered Megan. "I guess I should have known that. Rowlet, use Peck!"

This time, the attack caught Murkrow full-on. With a cry, it fell to the ground.

"Catch it!" cried Ella.

Biting her lip, Megan took a Poké Ball out of her bag and threw it. "It's not going to work."

She wasn't wrong. The ball quivered once, and Murkrow came back out with a squawk, immediately attacking Rowlet with a Wing Attack.

"Rowlet!" cried Megan.

But although it had gotten hit, Rowlet toughed it out, retaliating with Peck again.

"Try again, Megan," said Summer, coming over.

Megan picked up the Poké Ball, and threw it at Murkrow again. It struggled for quite some time, but in the end, calmed down and allowed itself to be caught.

"Yes! I got it! I got a Murkrow!"

Ella and Summer hugged her, "Good job!"

"Oh! You were right, it's awesome to know that I was able to catch a Pokémon with Rowlet!" She called her Pokémon to her, and Rowlet flew over, landing on her shoulder. "Thank you, baby!" she told it, kissing its feathery head.

Rowlet hooted happily.

"I didn't think I would catch a Pokémon at a gas station of all places. This is great!"

Summer grinned, "You did good."

"I hope Murkrow likes me… what if it doesn't?"

"Why don't you check? Get it out of its Poké Ball and see."

Megan was a little apprehensive, but she did as Summer suggested. Murkrow came out of its Poké Ball and looked around. Spotting Megan, it squawked and flew over to her, landing on her free shoulder. It rubbed its face against hers, making soft sounds.

"I think it likes you," Summer told her.

Megan looked amazed, "It really does!" Raising her hand, she ran a finger down the Pokémon's back. "I didn't think it would happen this fast!"

Ella was smiling, "I posted about Pancham on my team's page yesterday, and people told me that it happened sometimes that a Pokémon didn't really take to its trainer right away. But other people told me the opposite, that some of them immediately loved their trainer. Looks like that's what's going on here."

"Here, can you take a picture of us?" Megan handed Summer her phone,  
"I want to be able to put it on my profile!"

Summer snapped the picture, "There you go."

"Is it always going to be this exciting to get a new Pokémon?"

"I have no idea, really. I hope it is!" Ella put an arm around Megan and Summer, "Come on, let's go the rest of the way to D.C. so that we can get all of this started!"

Laughing, they went back to the RV, while Megan introduced Murkrow to Rowlet and pointed out Cyndaquil and Eevee riding on Summer's shoulders.

"And that cute blue Pokémon there is Piplup, and he's Ella's Pokémon. She also has a Pancham, but it's best if Ella doesn't let it out of its Poké Ball."

Murkrow cawed several times in greeting.

"Sweet one, isn't it?" said Ella as they started to drive again.

Summer nodded. Megan was in the dining area with it, feeding it treats and watching as it cleaned its feathers. "Megan's happy."

"I think we were lucky with our Pokémon."

"Even you?"

"I'll win Pancham's heart one day."

"Of course you will. I think it's a good Pokémon. It just needs to get used to you."

"It sure wasn't used to me this morning. It would have run away had I not closed the door to the bedroom."

"We'll be going to a Pokémon Center in Washington to register our Pokémon anyway. You can ask the nurses there what's up with Pancham, unless you want to wait a little."

"Oh, I'll definitely ask. I'm sure that we'll end up getting along."

They reached Washington D.C. with dozens of other trainers. Huge signs advertised the New Pokémon Trainers Gathering, and many teenagers were taking pictures with their signs and their new Pokémon.

"Look at that cute Bulbasaur!" cried Megan, looking out the window. "And that's a Machop!"

Summer couldn't help but grin at what she was seeing, and had to force herself to focus on the road instead of glancing everywhere at once.

But it wasn't easy to do. Pokémon were everywhere. Posters had been put up all over the place, and Pikachu decals were on several cars.

"I always knew that there were a lot of Pokémon fans out there," said Ella. "But this is on a whole other scale…"

"These aren't just fans, Ella. These are trainers. New trainers like us."

But Ella was right as well. Kids who weren't yet old enough to get a Pokémon license were there, sporting shirts depicting their favorite Pokémon or their favorite team. They cheered, took pictures, and spoke to trainers. Reporters were everywhere, and when Megan turned on the television, she saw that their RV was on camera.

"When did you put a Poké Ball decal on the RV?" she asked. "I didn't even see it before!"

Summer grinned, "The day before yesterday. My father will probably kill me for it, but I wanted people to know that we're trainers."

She drove a few more miles until she reached the special parking that had been reserved for trainers in motorhomes. It was minutes away from the Pokémon Trainers Stadium, which had been built just outside of the downtown area.

The parking was guarded by both people and Pokémon. The guard who signed them in had a Manectric next to him, an electric-type Pokémon that was capable of sending quite a charge through an enemy if needed.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about the RV while we're here," said Ella, looking at the Pokémon. "That guard over there has an Arcanine."

"That, and there are security cameras everywhere," said Megan, pointing at two of them that had been positioned at the entrance."

A couple of trailers were already in the lot, and the trainers inside came out to wave as Summer parked.

She turned off the engine.

"Well, here we are! Do you guys want to go explore the city a little?"

"I want to change into one of my team outfits first," said Ella.

"Oh, that's a good idea!" exclaimed Megan. "Let's all do it!"

"Sure, why not? It'll be fun." Summer opened the drawer she had put her outfits in and pulled out her holster bag along with various bits of clothing. She put on gray shorts, an amber yellow shirt, and her new gray sneakers. As she fastened her bag around her waist and her leg, Ella came out.

"This is just… awesome. I have no other word for it!"

"It is pretty cool," said Megan. "I never thought I'd get to do this kind of thing, you know?"

"Hey, nobody did. But we're here and this is really happening."

With their Pokémon in tow, they left the camper and made their way towards the stadium, hoping to register before the rush the following day. They found the Pokémon Center inside the stadium, and saw several trainers there already. A girl with a Chikorita was directly ahead of Summer, and was talking to a boy who also had a Chikorita with him.

"I can't wait to start battling for my team," she said. "It's going to be great. I'm going to help get Team Justice up the ranks, and we're going to win the National Tournament!"

Ella smiled, "I like her."

The girl turned around, her face brightening when she saw Ella's uniform, "Oh hi! You're on Team Justice too!" she said, offering her hand. "I'm Charlene, and this is my Chikorita."

Ella shook her hand, "My name is Ella, nice to meet you. These are my two best friends, Summer and Megan."

Charlene gave them a cursory glance, "You're hanging out with people from other teams?"

"They're my best friends, and we're traveling together to catch Pokémon this summer."

"Oh… but you could do that with members of our team."

Ella shrugged, "I guess I could, but we didn't know which teams we were going to be on when we decided to travel together. Besides, just because we're on different teams doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"She's right, Char," said the boy. "I mean, are you going to stop being friends with Nicky just because she's on another team?"

"Well, no, of course not."

Summer smiled, "It's weird though, isn't it? That we're suddenly thrust into teams like that? Some people on my team have said that their friends refuse to talk to them now."

"That's insane! I didn't mean that you shouldn't hang out together at all anymore. I just meant here, right now, but I guess it didn't come out that way."

The boy shook his head, "No, it didn't." He smiled, "Forgive my twin sister, she doesn't always think before she speaks."

"I do too!" cried Charlene, hitting his shoulder.

"Ow… anyway, my name is Charlie."

"Hi," said Megan, waving at him. "You both got a Chikorita and you got sorted into Team Justice? That's unusual, isn't it?"

"I think it's because Charlie and I are so similar," said Charlene. "But people on the team mentioned that for the most part, their siblings were on other teams. But there are a couple who got the same Pokémon and everything, like us."

"Do you both want the same Pokémon?"

"There are two that we both want, but otherwise, I think we have different ideas about which Pokémon to catch." Charlene nodded at Eevee, "Cute Pokémon. Is it supposed to look like that?"

Summer rubbed Eevee's head, "Not really, no. But it's just colored differently. Other than that, it's okay. I'm hoping the nurse here will be able to tell me whether it's gained some weight, because when I got it, it was really skinny."

"Skinny? How come?"

Summer explained what Eevee had gone through, and both Charlene and her brother made sounds of indignation. They spent the rest of their time discussing the situation, until the nurses were ready to see them.

Eevee was none too pleased when Summer handed it to a nurse to be checked out, but since Cyndaquil went with it, it didn't completely go crazy.

"Your Pokémon are in good shape," said the nurse to her later, bringing them back out. Eevee squealed and pounced on her, landing in her arms. "Cyndaquil is doing great, and Eevee has gained half a pound since you first got it, which is a good sign."

"You hear that? You're going to be okay, Eevee." Summer kissed Eevee's snout and gave Cyndaquil a cuddle. "I guess Eevee should gain another three pounds at least before I can battle it?"

"At least, yes. An Eevee typically weighs around fourteen pounds, and since battling burns a lot of calories, it will need to be around that weight before it can be comfortable on the field. Keep doing what you're doing."

"That's great news, thank you!" said Summer. She handed the nurse her ID and once it was scanned, went to find Ella and Megan who were waiting for her with Charlie and his sister.

They all decided to go to lunch together at one of the four restaurants that had been opened specifically for Pokémon trainers. Each of them had a specific theme: grass-type for vegetarian meals, water-type for seafood, ground-type for organic food and fire-type for the steakhouse.

They chose the water-type restaurant, and upon going inside, they were greeted by a waiter and his Poliwhirl.

"Welcome to _The_ _Milotic_ ," he said. "Please follow Poliwhirl, who will take you to one of our booths."

The restaurant was decorated in every shade of blue imaginable. A beautiful mural depicted a huge scenery with water-type Pokémon mingling with whales and dolphins. The tables were beautifully adorned with shells, and the silverware had been made to look like various water Pokémon.

"I wonder how much it'll cost us to eat here," said Megan quietly.

Poliwhirl heard her, and handed her a menu, tapping on the front page, where the following phrase was written:

 _Each trainer will receive a discount according to the team they belong to, when applicable. If a table has members of several teams, the highest discount will be applied._

"All right! So we get the Team Origin discount? That's awesome!"

Ella began to laugh, "Maybe we should find a thesaurus to try using a word other than _awesome._ It's all we've been saying since the day we got our Pokémon."

"I can't help it if that term describes everything we see right now."

Summer was looking through the menu, "Oh, a lobster salad, I think I'm going to have that," she said. "And look guys, they even have a special menu for Pokémon, according to type!"

Immediately, they all turned to the appropriate page.

" _Excellent_ ," said Charlie. "We've been trying to get our Chikorita to eat, but they're not very enthusiastic when it comes to that. The nurse at our Pokémon Center didn't know what to make of it. Maybe this will help."

The waiter came to take their order, confirming that since Summer was a part of Team Origin, they would apply that discount to all of them.

"Okay, I'm always going to have lunch with you from now on," said Ella.

"I hope that's going to be for the company and not just for the discounted food!" Summer told her, trying not to sound indignant.

Ella giggled, "Well… maybe."

" _Maybe_?"

Charlene laughed as well, "You three are really close, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah," answered Megan. "We live in the same neighborhood, and we've been going to the same school since kindergarten. That's why we thought that going on our first Pokémon journey had to be done with each other. It wouldn't make much sense otherwise."

"Where are you guys planning on going?"

"Texas," said Summer. "My uncle has a ranch there, and we wanted to go check it out. We'll also be going to California, probably passing through the Grand Canyon and Death Valley."

"What Pokémon are we gonna catch in Death Valley?" asked Megan, aghast.

"Probably some Sandshrew and Sandile. We could also find some Trapinch and Diglett, who knows? Even if we don't catch them, it'll be worth just seeing them in the wild, I think."

"I'm all for seeing more Pokémon. I don't think I've taken my good camera, but my phone takes really good pictures as it is." Megan looked at the twins, "Are you guys planning on going anywhere this summer?"

"For Pokémon?" asked Charlie. "Not really. But we're going to Canada next week for ten days, and I think we'll catch a few Pokémon there. It should be really interesting. I'd love to be able take a road trip like you guys, though. It sounds really cool."

Their food arrived shortly after, along with the Pokémon's meals. Everyone loved it, and Eevee was very satisfied with what it got, visibly eating so much that it promptly fell asleep on Summer's lap as soon as it had finished eating.

"I love this restaurant. We should come back here tonight and tomorrow," said Ella.

"You should try some of the other places," said Charlene. "I hear the vegetarian restaurant is amazing."

"We'll see how we feel tonight," said Megan. "But I do agree that having a group of restaurants here is great. I'm just afraid that they're going to be packed tomorrow. All the trainers will be here."

"Maybe we can make a reservation or something, what do you think?

"That's a great idea! That way, we'll be sure to have a spot. We can go check out the restaurants later, just to see. If we don't like them, we'll come back here and make reservations for lunch and dinner tomorrow night, and for tonight too."

They agreed, and shortly thereafter, they left the _Milotic_ and headed towards the _Sunflora_ to see about dinner that night.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

It was the Day of the Gathering. Every Pokémon website advertised it, and trainers everywhere were posting how excited they were. Summer, getting up before anybody else, went on Team Origin's site to write a blog.

 _Today is the day new trainers gather together for the first time. For most of us, this marks the true start of our Pokémon journey. Are we all doing the same thing? Are we all traveling around the world to catch Pokémon? Or are most of us going to stay home and catch the Pokémon there?_

 _However the journey starts for us, I know that it's going to be an exciting one._

 _I wonder what kind of Pokémon we're going to see today. Oh, I know that we'll see multiple versions of the starter Pokémon, certainly, but what else? I have an Eevee, my friend Megan caught a Murkrow, and my other friend Ella got a mischievous Pancham who tried to run away yesterday when she fed it._

 _It's exciting to know that we're all embarking on the same journey, and I can't wait to see what today has in store for us._

She posted her entry, and turned off her laptop before tiptoeing to the shower. By the time she was done washing up, Megan and Ella had awoken, but neither of them seemed inclined to get up.

"Come on, you guys, today's the day! We have three hours to get ready!"

" _Three hours_ , Summer. We're right there, it's not like we have to walk three miles to get there."

Summer grinned and got dressed, putting on her gray shorts and formfitting Team Origin tank top. Her skin was slightly sunburned from all the time she had spent outside, and she liked the way it made her look. Once she had her sneakers on, she strapped her bag to her leg and went out the door with Eevee and Cyndaquil.

The sky was already blue, with the sun peeking out from behind fluffy white clouds. Looking around, she saw that the parking lot had filled overnight. Her heart lurched when she saw a black RV parked right next to theirs. Did it belong to _him_?

She swallowed and walked out of the lot, greeting the parking attendant and his Jolteon warmly.

There was a Starbucks nearby, and she quickly went there, grabbing coffee for herself and the girls, and also something for the attendant, as she figured that he was tired from having spent the entire night looking after them.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that!" he said, shocked when she handed him a coffee and a treat for Jolteon. "Thank you!"

"It's the least I can do, since you've been stuck in this booth all night."

"It's very sweet of you, miss. Jolteon thanks you too. There, you see?"

Jolteon had come over to her and rubbed its face against her leg. Its fur was surprisingly soft, given that it could turn into spikes when it was agitated.

Summer knelt and rubbed Jolteon's neck, "You're welcome, buddy."

Five minutes later, she was back in the RV, where Ella and Megan thanked her for the coffee.

"Did you see whose camper is outside?" asked Megan slyly. "I wish I knew his name, that way we wouldn't have refer to him as your future boyfriend."

"Future… really, that's not what we're here for."

"It's not? I wanna meet guys during this journey!" Ella opened the window, and saw the boy in his camper, getting dressed for the day. "Oh my gosh, Summer, come see!"

Summer's eyes widened, "Are you crazy? If _he_ were the one spying on _us_ , you'd have him arrested!" She closed the curtains quickly, before he saw them looking.

"He really is cute. If you don't go for him, Summer, I will."

Summer didn't answer, instead getting breakfast for the Pokémon and drinking her coffee. She didn't feel hungry anymore, and therefore put the bagel she'd bought for herself in the fridge before working on her hair.

Megan came to her, "Hey, you know Ella's just kidding, right? She'd never try to go out with someone you were interested in."

"Yeah, I know." She wasn't going to try anything with him anyway. Quite apart from not knowing his name, she wasn't ready for a new relationship.

"You know, just because Damian was a complete jerk to you, doesn't mean everyone else will be."

She shook her head, "It's too soon. Yes, I feel something for this guy whenever I see him, and I have no idea why, but that doesn't mean I'm going to try something with him."

"When did you break up with Damian? Last April?"

"April 3rd," said Summer quietly.

"And you don't think you should try to get back out there?"

"First, we're going to go to the gathering. After that, we'll see."

"You could at least try to meet him. Maybe today?"

"We'll see," repeated Summer, pulling her dark brown hair into twin braids. She then applied makeup to her face, putting on eyeliner and sparkling gray eyeshadow. Cyndaquil and Eevee watched her with interest, making squeaks of approval when she was done.

An hour later, they were ready to go, and got out of the RV, finding two dozen trainers milling around the parking lot, looking unsure of what to do. A girl in a Team Chronos uniform had a Litten in her arms, while a boy next to her, who was wearing Team Legend colors had a Cyndaquil on his shoulder.

"Oh, look, Cyndaquil! There's another Cyndaquil right over there!" exclaimed Summer.

Cyndaquil gave an excited cry, alerting the other one to its presence. The boy's Cyndaquil cried out happily as well, giving a tiny wave.

The closer they got to the stadium, the more Pokémon they saw. Trainers from every single team were mingling, talking excitedly and showing off their first catches.

"Bellsprout, Weedle, and am I dreaming, or is that a Vulpix?"

"Oh, you're right, Ella! That _is_ a Vulpix! Look how pretty it is!"

Megan was staring at it, wide-eyed. "There's more than one type of Vulpix, isn't there?"

Summer nodded, "Some Pokémon have what scientists call variants, depending on the climate they're in. That's a fire Vulpix. In the winter, we might see an ice Vulpix, which is actually a Pokémon I would really love to have."

"The more I learn about Pokémon, the more I like them," said Ella. "Look at all of them…. It's amazing."

She was right. There were all sorts of Pokémon around. Summer even spotted someone who had a Drampa, one of the rarest dragon Pokémon in the world. Its trainer was a man from Team Chronos, who was talking to a few curious people gathered around him.

"I never thought I'd see a Drampa in person," whispered Megan.

It was striking to know that experienced trainers were able to catch such Pokémon. Summer couldn't imagine getting that far into her training, but she couldn't wait to try. She found herself getting more excited as the minutes went by.

"Oh! We need to figure out where we're going to meet after this," she said suddenly, pointing to a sign that indicated where members of each team had to go.

"Oh, we don't get to sit together?" asked Megan.

"Come on! We get to meet other members of our team!" said Ella. "I guess we can meet back here later? Or should we just text each other?"

"There will be hundreds of people here once this is over, just like now," Megan told her. "Maybe we should just meet back at the trailer."

"That might be the best idea," said Summer. "If something stops us, we can text. In any case, we have a reservation at the _Charmeleon_ at twelve-thirty. But I don't think this is going to take more than three hours."

They went their separate ways, Summer following the signs that directed her towards the Team Origin seating area. She quickly found herself at a separate entrance to the stadium, and followed the crowd. People seemed unsure of where to go, but the signs were clear enough.

Going through a door, Summer kept walking until she reached the Team Origin section, which was on the first level of the stadium, close to the middle, and right behind the section reserved for Team Chaos. She took a seat, and Eevee immediately hopped from her shoulder to her lap. Cyndaquil remained where it was, curled up against Summer's neck.

People were filing in, one by one. A girl with short red hair sat next to Summer and introduced herself as Carly. She carried an adorable Fennekin on her lap, who looked curiously at Cyndaquil and Eevee.

"Wow, you've already caught a Pokémon. That's pretty impressive."

"Thanks," said Summer. "You haven't caught any yet?"

"Oh, no. My parents and I came directly here. We're going on holiday tomorrow, and they didn't want to be cluttered with Pokémon. They didn't really want me to be a trainer, but we don't have a lot of money for frivolities, so they figured this would be a good thing for me." She bit her lip, "I just have no idea how I'm going to catch eighteen Pokémon in a year, though."

"Seventeen," Summer told her. "You already have Fennekin here, so you've already started. Where are you going on holiday?"

"To my grandmother's place. She lives in Maine."

Summer nodded, "Is she close to any woods?"

"Almost everyone in Maine lives close to some kind of wooded area, I think."

"Then you'll be able to catch some Pokémon there, easily. There are plenty of them who live in the woods."

"Like what?"

Summer checked her phone, tapping its keys quickly, "Here, look, Butterfree and Beedrill are forest Pokémon. So are Hoothoot and Natu, and Pikachu as well. Oh, and of course, you should be able to get plenty of grass-type Pokémon in the forest. Bellsprout and its evolutions, even Sneasel and Stantler. Even Treecko live in the forest, you see?"

"You mean that I could catch all of those Pokémon in the woods of Maine?"

"I'm not sure about those particular woods, but the Pokémon mentioned here are forest-dwellers, so you should be able to find at least some of them. Is there a lake or a river nearby?"

Carly gave a nod, "Yeah."

"Then you'll probably find some water Pokémon too, depending on how big it is. And if you go there in the winter, you should technically find some ice Pokémon there."

"It's good to know that I don't have to travel all over the world to get them." Carly bit her lip, "But what about the ones I can't get?"

"Were you able to go on the team's site at all? I remember reading a section on there about that. You can trade with others. Imagine if you stumble upon a lot of Stantler and you catch two, for example. Well, you'd always be able to trade one to someone else who might have a Pokémon that you'd be interested in."

Carly's face had brightened at Summer's explanation, "Really? People can actually do that?"

"They sure can. There are Pokémon conventions in every state. If you want to trade a Pokémon, you can advertise on the convention's site and go to the trading booths if someone's interested. It'll just depend on the Pokémon you have and on what you need. And, of course, you can always ask a trainer on our team."

More people arrived, including members of Team Chaos, who were dressed in red, black, and yellow.

"A lot of people have already caught wild Pokémon," said Carly as a boy walked by with a Charmander and a Natu. "Maybe I should have tried harder, but my parents were adamant. I saw a Volbeat just yesterday, and I really wanted it…"

"You'll catch one, don't worry." Summer grinned, "Besides, there are plenty of trainers who only have one Pokémon right now. It's okay if you don't catch ten in a week, trust me." She looked at the incoming trainers for Team Chaos, and her breath caught in her throat.

There he was.

 _So, he's in Team Chaos_ , she said to herself, barely able to think anything else. Her mouth went dry, and she blinked a couple of times. Eevee, sensing something, leapt off her lap and towards the boy, who caught it, surprised.

"Eevee!" she cried. "What in the world are you doing?"

The boy looked at her, then at Eevee. The ghost of a smile graced his face, and Summer felt herself getting very dizzy suddenly as he leaned over and put Eevee back on her lap.

"It's just saying hi, I think," he said, sitting down just in front of her. He had a British accent, which, for some reason, made her heart pound harder in her chest. A Pokémon came out of his pocket, and floated around his head once before going over to Eevee and gently bumping heads with it.

It was a Duskull, a ghost Pokémon that had a wispy gray body and a skull mask on its face. Despite looking a little frightening, the Pokémon was kind of cute. Summer gently extended a hand towards it, and it came closer to her, rubbing its skull mask against her. "Hi Duskull," she said.

The boy turned around and Duskull immediately went back to him. Satisfied, he turned back around, and the boy next to him turned to face Summer.

"Sorry about that," he said. "My friend Gladion here has no idea how to react when a pretty girl is anywhere near him." He looked at Summer and smiled, "My name is David, and this here is my pal Chimchar."

"Um hi," said Summer, trying not to stare at the back of Gladion's head.

"I know, he has an odd name. His mother had a sense of humor when she named him."

"No need to talk about my mother, thank you," said Gladion coolly.

"Don't pay attention to him, he's grouchy. Girls like him because they think he's from England or something, but really, he's from Chicago."

"She knows that," said Gladion, sounding as though he were talking through his teeth. "I saw her and her friends as I was going to the Pokémon store."

 _His voice…_ It was so cold. And yet, it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever heard.

"And you didn't introduce yourself to them? Very rude of you, my friend."

"My name is Summer," she said, looking down at Eevee's gray fur.

"That's a beautiful name," said David. "You have friends, you say? They're not on your team?"

Summer shook her head. "Ella's in Team Justice, and my other friend Megan is part of Team Celestial."

"Are they as pretty as you?"

A blink. Summer honestly didn't know how to answer that question.

Gladion elbowed him, "What kind of a question is that?" he asked.

"You don't think she's pretty?" David asked him, while Summer looked at Carly for help. But Carly was obviously trying to hide a fit of laughter.

"What does that have to do with _anything_?" asked Gladion. He turned around, looking at Summer, "Sorry about that. David's got girls on the brain. All the time."

"Hey, one of the main reasons I started on this journey was to meet girls!"

Summer chuckled, despite being embarrassed, "You'd get along well with my friend Ella then," she said.

"I would?" asked David brightly.

"Yeah. She said that she wanted to meet guys on this journey. If you'd like to meet her, we're going to be having lunch at the _Charmeleon_ today, once this is over. Would you like to come along?"

 _Where did_ that _come from?_

"Oh, we'd love to! We have a reservation there for lunch too, actually. That's a coincidence, isn't it?"

 _Lunch? With…_

Suddenly she was having difficulty breathing. Cyndaquil, attentive to her, made a tiny sound and nuzzled her gently just as a microphone crackled to life over the speakers. She realized belatedly that the stadium was completely full.

"Hello, everyone!" came a clear voice belonging to a woman Summer had seen countless times on television, but had never hoped to see in person: Lusamine Alexander, leader of Team Discord in North America, and one of the most powerful Pokémon trainers in the world. She stood on a podium that had been erected at one end of the stadium, before an area that Summer suddenly recognized as the battlefield.

"Welcome to the Summer Trainer Gathering for the year 2026!"

Everyone cheered.

"I know that all of you are very excited to be here today and that you can't wait to get fully started on your Pokémon journeys, so we'll try not to take too long."

She stepped aside, and someone else came up to the podium, a man she had seen before, and who was the leader of Team Valor, Lysandre Freeman. "Hello, new trainers! As my esteemed fellow trainer said, we want to make this quick for you! I'm sure that all of you have been on your team sites by now and that you've found out all of your requirements."

He held up his hand as people began to talk.

"So that would be yes, then," he said, smiling, his face reflected on two large screens. "This gathering is set to last a while, because Lusamine and I will be having a battle after we get through with the rules today."

"A battle!" screamed someone excitedly.

"Oh my gosh!"

"It will count as an official battle tournament battle, so get ready for something great!" cried Lysandre over the sudden roar of the crowd.

Lusamine went to the podium again, "But before we do this, my dear trainers, let's get some ground rules in first. Most of you will probably know them, but this might be new to the rest of you. You should know that, as new trainers, you represent your team at all times. Everything you do will reflect on your team, whether it's with Pokémon or without."

"Of course, Pokémon battles will have the greatest impact," said Lysandre. "Most of the battles you will have in stage one will be one-on-one battles, which means that you will normally use one Pokémon each. After your tenth official battle, you will graduate to two-on-two battles, and finally, to three-on-three battles."

Lusamine nodded, "You will not be officially eligible for battles until you catch at least three Pokémon." She held up a hand as many trainers began to protest, "I know you're all eager to get started with battling. But understand that a Pokémon battle can be rough. You and your Pokémon must be in sync with each other in order to be able to battle properly."

"Furthermore," added Lysandre, "you need time for the Pokémon to bond with you, so don't go catching every Pokémon you find."

Summer blinked. What he was saying seemed to be going against what her team needed from her. How was she supposed to catch eighteen different types of Pokémon in a year if she had to take her time?

The Team Origin trainers around her were wondering the same thing. Carly looked at her worriedly, but said nothing.

"We know that some of you are in teams that require you to catch a specific amount of Pokémon within the year," called Lusamine. "And we have no doubt that you'll manage to do just that. We're merely advising you not to start out too quickly. Many trainers before you tried to rush and failed miserably."

"Talk to your more experienced team members. They've been where you are, and will certainly be able to help you if you get stuck somewhere." Lysandre cleared his throat, and looked at Lusamine, "Are you ready?"

"You know it," she told him.

"Time to battle!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Lusamine and Lysandre each walked to opposite ends of the battlefield. Lusamine went first, sending out a Liepard, which had many similarities to normal leopards, except for its color and the fact that it was more slender and about a tall as a cheetah.

"Oh, look, it's a shiny Pokémon!" cried a girl to Summer's left. "It doesn't have the same coloring as normal Liepards!"

She was right. Liepards were predominantly violet in color, with an amber patch of fur on their chest, amber legs, and amber-colored spots on their coats. Lusamine's Liepard, on the other hand, was dark red and cream-colored, with bright green eyes.

"It's gorgeous," breathed Summer. It was strong too, she knew, having seen it battling once. It had somehow beaten a fairy-type Pokémon, which were known to be very strong against dark types.

Lysandre smiled, "I knew you were going to pick that one," he said. "That's why I'll choose… Infernape!" He released the Pokémon from its ball, and it materialized in front of him, looking menacing.

"Oh wow!"

"Liepard doesn't stand a chance! Infernape is half-fire, half-fighting!" said Carly, nearly bouncing off her chair.

"Don't sell it short," Summer told her "I saw that Liepard beat a Chansey in just a few moves."

The battle began. Infernape went first, immediately attacking with a double kick attack. Without even waiting for Lusamine to say anything, Liepard avoided the attack, moving with amazing agility.

"Bite, Liepard!" cried Lusamine.

The Pokémon used its momentum to race towards Infernape, who turned away at the last second. But Liepard was faster, catching Infernape's tail in its mouth and biting down hard. Infernape cried out in pain.

"Toss it off you, Infernape!" called Lysandre. "Now!"

"Hang on, Liepard!"

Infernape started to move its tail around, jumping up and down. As it did so, Liepard slammed down onto the ground, but held on.

"High jump kick!"

Infernape jumped high, keeping its tail under its body. Liepard, having no other choice, released it and backed away quickly to avoid getting hit.

"Liepard, use Toxic on Infernape!"

Liepard suddenly opened its mouth, coughing out a dark violet substance that hit Infernape right in the face. The larger Pokémon cried out again and tried to use its hand to wipe away the poison, but it was no use, as it only spread to its hands.

"Oh… it's in pain, look," said David, turning to glance at Summer.

A look of concern crossed Lysandre's features, "Hang in there, Infernape, and use Fire Blitz!"

Summer stared as Infernape grunted and focused until its body engulfed itself in flames. A second later, it charged at Liepard, hitting it hard and sending it flying across the battlefield until it hit the low retaining wall.

"Oh my God!" came Ella's voice from somewhere above Summer. She turned and saw her sitting halfway up the stands with the rest of Team Justice.

Liepard was hurt. The Fire Blitz had hit it hard, and it took some time for it to get back to its feet. Not far from it, Infernape, who had fallen to one knee after the attack, got up, swaying. The poison was visibly hurting it, and its attack had damaged it as well.

"Liepard!" cried Lusamine. "You can do it! Use Shadow Ball!"

Once again, the feline Pokémon opened its mouth. This time, a pulsating violet energy ball streaked out, going towards Infernape so quickly that its opponent wasn't able to avoid it.

"It's finished," said Gladion. "Watch."

It was true. The ball of energy hit Infernape hard enough to get its off its feet and cause it to fall backwards.

"It was weakened considerably when it used Fire Blitz," said Summer, trying not to cringe as Infernape tried to get up, but couldn't. "Lysandre shouldn't have used that move, but Liepard was too quick and avoided everything else."

"Infernape is unable to battle!" cried the referee. "Lusamine wins this first round for Team Discord!"

The Team Discord trainers erupted into applause. The rest of the crowd was too stunned at how quickly the first round had ended to react.

Lusamine and Lysandre called their Pokémon back. They were wearing microphones, so everyone heard them praising the creatures for how they'd battled.

"You choose the next Pokémon first, then, since you won the first round," said Lysandre to Lusamine.

Lusamine bowed, "Thank you. I'll choose Persian!"

Persian, a magnificent cream-colored cat, came out of its Poké Ball, while Lysandre, for his part, chose Chandelure, a ghost and fire-type Pokémon that resembled a black chandelier with violet flames.

"How does a thing like that exist?" asked Carly, staring at it.

"It's a Pokémon," answered Summer. "I guess we could ask that about every other Pokémon out there. It's pretty, though."

"Yeah," said the boy sitting next to Summer. "But that Persian looks very healthy."

It was. And it was a very strong Pokémon, who apparently knew some dark-type moves, which were enough to finish Chandelure in less than two minutes. Once again, everyone stared, stunned.

"What in the world?!"

"Dark-types moves are very strong against ghost Pokémon," said Gladion. "Anybody fighting against Team Discord should know better than to use a ghost to battle with."

Lusamine sent out her final Pokémon, a beautiful Milotic, while Lysandre brought out a Pyroar.

"Wait a minute," said David. "She's already won two rounds out of three, why are they still going?"

Gladion answered him, not taking his eyes off the battlefield. "Because of points. The more rounds you win, the more points you get for your team. This is a three-on-three Pokémon match, and while Lusamine already beat two of Lysandre's Pokémon, that Pyroar could beat Milotic and the others."

"You really think Pyroar can beat Milotic?"

Gladion shook his head, "No, I don't. Milotic is one of her strongest Pokémon. It'll probably beat that Pyroar faster than Persian beat Chandelure, look."

Milotic had already started attacking, using Hydro Pump. It was a very strong attack that hit Pyroar head on. Pyroar tried to retaliate, but it moved much too slowly, and its flamethrower did very little damage to the water Pokémon, who fought back with a devastating Aqua Tail.

"Come on, Pyroar! You can do it!" called Lysandre.

But Pyroar, it seemed, was finished. Collapsing to the ground of the arena, it didn't get up again, its flickering mane of fire dulling.

The crowd cheered.

"Wow! She won! It was so amazing!"

"Bad luck, really, for Team Valor," said Summer, clapping. "His Pokémon were strong, but not against Lusamine's."

"It was a good effort for him, anyway," added Carly. "But this is going to affect the rankings a lot, won't it?"

Summer nodded, "Definitely. But our team won a big match yesterday against Team Chronos, so if I'm not mistaken, we'll go up in the rankings on Sunday."

"Well! That was quite a battle!" said someone who had walked to the microphone on the podium. Summer recognized him as Professor Alder. "Congratulations, Lusamine! I'm sure that our new trainers can't wait to have enough experience to battle you!"

"I don't know about that," said someone behind Summer. "The idea of having my Squirtle battle her scares the hell out of me."

A girl chuckled, "By the time you reach her level, though, your Squirtle will have probably evolved into a Blastoise, so you'll be able to hold your own, unless she's got a grass-type or something."

"Which I'm sure she does."

Professor Alder spoke again, "Now, you're all free to mingle around and get to know each other, or if you'd like, you may have some informal battles right here, to test out your Pokémon's strengths."

The idea thoroughly appealed to Summer. Eevee and Cyndaquil also seemed excited, because they both looked at her, eyes bright.

"No, Eevee, you know you can't battle yet, not until you're stronger." The previous day, the nurse had told her that Eevee had gained another hundred grams, and that it was definitely getting better, which had been a good sign. "But you can cheer Cyndaquil on, if it wants to battle!"

Cyndaquil hopped from her shoulder to her lap and nodded. "Quil!"

"Well, all right then! Let's go!"

"Oh, we'll come watch you!" said David, grabbing Gladion's arm and following her down the stairs.

"Hey! What…" Gladion hopped on one foot, trying to navigate through the people who had suddenly come pouring into the aisles. "I can follow you just fine, you know!"

Summer reached the battlefield, and a referee who was there looked at her, "Would you like to try a battle?" he asked her.

"Yes, I would, with my Cyndaquil!"

"All right, why don't you give me your ID so that I can register you? It won't be an official battle, but it'll be recorded for your team."

"Sounds good," she said, handing over her ID.

He took it from her, scanning it. "Summer Blackwood, birthday on April seventeenth, from Chicago, IL, Team Origin."

"That's me," said Summer.

"I'll battle her," said a girl with tanned skin, impeccable makeup, and wavy brown hair. A Litten was next to her, rubbing against her smooth calf.

The referee took her ID, "Lorelei Murphy, birthday on March tenth, from Providence, RI, Team Chronos."

The girl nodded and took her place at the other end of the battlefield.

"This will be a one-on-one nonofficial battle. When one of your Pokémon will be unable to battle, the match will be over. You may begin! Miss Murphy, please go first."

"Go ahead, Cyndaquil," said Summer. "You're going to be great!"

Cyndaquil focused, and suddenly, flames sprouted from the four holes on its back, illuminating the area around it.

Lorelei stared squarely ahead, "Litten, use Scratch!"

Litten leapt into action, running towards where Cyndaquil was waiting. Summer waited until the last possible second.

"Jump up, Cyndaquil! And use Swift!"

Cyndaquil's attack hit Litten hard, as the cat Pokémon was unable to avoid it at such close range. It stumbled and skidded, landing at Summer's feet.

"Litten! You get up right now, you hear me? Get up!"

Litten did as Lorelei ordered, getting up and facing Cyndaquil again. It seemed a little shaken, but otherwise all right.

"Now, use Ember!"

Litten opened its mouth, sending out little balls of fire towards Cyndaquil.

"Cyndaquil, get down!" cried Summer. She waited for Cyndaquil to press itself against the ground, and watched as the fire missed it by less than an inch. "Good job, baby! Now use Tackle!"

Litten saw Cyndaquil coming and avoided the move before Lorelei had a chance to call out to it.

"Use Ember again!" screamed Lorelei. "Now, Litten!"

This time, the attack hit Cyndaquil, who seemed thoroughly surprised. With a small cry, it sat down, rubbing its paws over its snout.

"Cyndaquil, are you okay?" She knew that the fire attack shouldn't have had much of an effect on it, and that it had probably been more scared than hurt.

"Quil!" it cried.

"Good! Use Quick Attack!"

Cyndaquil took off, slamming its body into Litten's.

"Litten, look out!"

Litten was caught off-guard by Cyndaquil's attack. It called out in pain, but Lorelei was already calling another attack, "Ember again, Litten!"

"Use Flamethrower, Cyndaquil!"

The two attacks collided in midair. They seemed evenly matched, although, judging by what she was seeing, Cyndaquil's Flamethrower looked stronger than Litten's Ember.

"Full power!" cried Lorelei.

Litten intensified its attack.

"Cyndaquil, move away… now! And use Swift!"

Cyndaquil leapt away from Litten, turning its Flamethrower into a Swift attack that took a while to break through Litten's Ember attack. Enough of it hit Lorelei's Pokémon, however, for it to stagger backwards, breathing hard.

"Good job, Cyndaquil, that was great!" cried Summer. "Hang in there!"

"Use Scratch, Litten!"

Litten immediately started to run to Cyndaquil, but it was obvious that it was getting tired. Cyndaquil also appeared to be at the end of its rope, and Summer thought quickly about what the best move would be.

"Cyndaquil! Use Tackle!" Next to her, Eevee was calling out its own form of encouragement, and Cyndaquil seemed to take it to heart.

Running as fast as it could towards Litten, it collided with it just as the other Pokémon brought its paw down, scratching Cyndaquil's back.

The two Pokémon collapsed to the ground, breathing harder than before. Both of them attempted to get up, but couldn't. The fire on Cyndaquil's back died out.

The referee raised both of his flags. "Both Pokémon are unable to battle. This match is a draw!"

Summer ran towards the Pokémon, bending down and picking up Cyndaquil. "Oh, my baby, are you okay? You did a great job out there, sweetie! For your first battle, it was a really good effort, and I'm proud of you."

Lorelei was there too, taking out her Poké Ball and returning Litten to it, glaring at Summer.

"Your Litten did a great job," she said, extending her hand.

"I guess." Belatedly, she looked down at Summer's hand before shaking it very briefly. Without another word, she turned around and left the battlefield, paying very little attention to what people were saying to her.

Summer thanked the referee and walked towards where David and Gladion were waiting. To her surprise, Megan and Ella were there as well, shooting glances at Gladion and giggling.

"That was some first battle, Summer!" said Ella.

"It was fun. Cyndaquil and Litten were evenly matched, and I think it was good training for them."

"Is Cyndaquil okay?" wondered Megan as Eevee came close, wanting Summer to pick it up.

Summer obliged it, cradling Cyndaquil in one arm and settling Eevee on her shoulder, "Yeah, I think it's going to be fine. It's just tired, and not used to battling yet."

"Why don't you put it back in its Poké Ball so it can rest?" asked Gladion.

"Because Cyndaquil has refused to go into its Poké Ball ever since I got it. Eevee is the same way." Summer smiled down at Cyndaquil, running her hand over its body. She could see where Litten's Scratch attack had hurt it, but the cuts weren't deep.

Going to the nearest seat, she sat down and plunged a hand into her holster pack, taking out the multipurpose ointment she'd placed there. Slowly, she applied it to Cyndaquil's back, rubbing gently until its skin had absorbed it all.

"I'll take you to the Pokémon Center, don't worry, that way you'll feel much better."

Cyndaquil gently licked her hand, "Quil…" it said. It almost sounded disappointed.

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't lose the battle, and you didn't win it. I think you did a terrific job, don't you guys?"

"Yeah, it really did," said David, nodding. "You have nothing to be ashamed about, Cyndaquil."

Eevee came down from Summer's shoulder and nuzzled Cyndaquil, making soft sounds. Cyndaquil nuzzled it back, and yawned once.

"Oh yeah, I think it's definitely time for the Pokémon Center."

They all went together, and Ella took the opportunity to link her arm to Summer's.

"So… you actually talked to him!" she hissed.

"Hmm? Oh… yeah, I guess I did."

"We'll talk about that later. Megan and I want details, lots of them!"

Summer rolled her eyes, smiling as they reached the Pokémon Center. Several trainers were there, but they let Summer pass once they saw Cyndaquil.

"Your Pokémon's hurt?" asked the nurse.

"Just tired, I think," answered Summer. "It just battled with a Litten."

"Oh, I see!" She quickly took Cyndaquil from her, and disappeared with it, her Chansey right behind her.

Summer sat down to wait with the others, feeding Eevee a few treats while she did so.

Someone walked into her field of vision. Megan and Ella both gasped, which caused her to look up.

Her heart unpleasantly skipped a beat. "Damian," she said.

"Hi, Summer," he told her, his voice smooth as silk.

He had gotten a buzz cut since the last time she had seen him. It suited him, making him look older than before, and more attractive.

"I saw your battle," he said, lowering his voice. "It was good." He reached out to her, touching her cheek, and she flinched away.

"Don't touch me, Damian. You lost that right back in April."

"Oh, come on, you're going to hold that grudge against me?"

Eevee, sensing that something wasn't quite right, bristled and gave a tiny growl, that was cuter than it was menacing. Summer put a hand on its back to calm it down.

"A grudge?" screeched Ella, getting in Damian's face. "After what you did to her, it's a miracle she didn't claw your eyes out, you jerk!"

"You've always been cute when you get angry," said Damian to her, pinching her cheek.

Ella lashed out, slapping Damian across the face, "Summer is way too good for you. Every girl on the planet is too good for you."

"Ella!" cried Megan, pulling her away from Damian. "He's not worth it!"

"Summer is!"

"I'm not worth a lawsuit, Ella. Don't forget that his father's a lawyer." She glared at Damian, "Get away from us, or I swear I'll sic her on you."

Damian shrugged, "Have it your way. I was just trying to be friendly, you know."

"Yes. Most of the cheerleading team knows how _friendly_ you are, Damian. Now, get out."

Damian tried to say something, but both Gladion and David stepped between him and the girls.

"You heard them," said David. "Get out."

A shrug, "Fine. I was just leaving anyway. I'll see you in the fall, Summer. Or before, you never know." He walked away from them, chuckling under his breath.

David cleared his throat, looking at Summer, "So… bad breakup?"

Summer said nothing, merely going to the counter when she saw the nurse bring out Cyndaquil again.

"Your Cyndaquil's doing just fine. It still needs some rest, but it should be back to normal by tomorrow."

"Thank you." Summer scanned her card, then picked up Cyndaquil, transferring it to her free shoulder. She suddenly felt like going back to the camper and being alone for a bit.

Megan walked over to her, gently taking her hand, "Hey. Are you okay? I know you didn't expect to run into him like that."

"I'm fine."

"You wanna go to lunch now? It's early, but maybe they have a table ready for us."

"No, it's okay."

Cyndaquil rubbed its face against hers, and Eevee did the same from the other side.

"Look, you shouldn't let that idiot ruin your day. He's a jerk, we all know it."

Ella came over, "This isn't just about him cheating on you, is it? Did he do something else to you?"

"I already told you that he tried to kiss me, which is when I hit him."

"Yeah but –."

"He tried, okay? He had me pinned against the back wall in the courtyard, and nobody was around, and he tried. But that's when I hit him and ran away. So nothing happened."

Megan blinked, and Ella put her hand over her mouth, "Wait he… _are you serious_? Oh, I will kill him!"

"Honestly, it's fine. Like you said, he's not worth it."

"Summer, if he tried to… did you report him?"

"I don't have any proof! His father's one of the top attorneys in the state, how in the world would I prove a case like that?"

"My father's a top attorney too," said Gladion, having overheard them. "He works for the firm Alexander, Richardson & Sullivan."

"Your father works for ARS?" asked Megan, her eyes wide. "That's one of the biggest law firms in the Tri-State area!"

Gladion shrugged his shoulders, "I guess so. Anyway, if you need a lawyer or something, I can talk to him if you'd like."

"Thanks," said Summer, feeling embarrassed. "But like I said, I have absolutely no proof of that."

"The cheerleaders will back you up," said Ella.

Summer began to laugh so hard that she had to sit down. "The cheerleaders that he… no. They won't. For one thing, they hate me for not joining them, remember? For another, they think I'm crazy for not giving in to him."

"Well, I don't think we should waste time thinking about him anymore," said David. "Let's see if there are any other trainers who are battling, that should be fun."

Ella and Megan linked their arms through Summer's, and, together with Gladion and David, rejoined the other trainers at the Gathering.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note:  
** Wow, I haven't updated this fic in quite a long time, and I'm very sorry about that! I suddenly found inspiration for it, so... here you go - chapter 10! I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Despite the unsavory encounter with Damian, Summer found herself enjoying the rest of her day. She and the girls had lunch with Gladion and David, talking about various Pokémon they were hoping to encounter.

"I always wanted a chameleon as a pet," said David as the hostess brought over food and water for their Pokémon. "So my goal is to get a Kecleon. My mother will absolutely hate it, but there's nothing she can do about it." He grinned.

"She doesn't like reptiles," supplied Gladion. "Imagine if he were to show up with an Ekans or an Arbok."

Megan giggled, "I know that there are a few Pokémon my mother would never want me to bring home. Anything buggy, for example."

"But Beautifly is such a pretty Pokémon," said Ella.

Megan nodded, "Yeah. But you see my problem, because of my team."

"Flying Pokémon," said David with a nod. "You'll probably need to get a few flying bug-types."

"How do you know the types for Team Celestial?"

Gladion snorted, "We've been watching Pokémon battles forever, same as you. Some teams are more obvious than others to figure out."

"He's got a point," said Summer. "I mean, there are teams who favor a certain Pokémon, or Pokémon that know certain attacks. If you really sat down and watched every match and noted down every Pokémon that the trainers have, I think you'd be able to figure it out."

Gladion glanced at her, nodding once. "Exactly. Of course, there are some teams that are a little more difficult to get."

"But that's what makes it exciting," said David. "I mean, if I have no idea what to expect, it's a lot better."

"But even knowing which type of Pokémon you're going to battle against doesn't guarantee you a victory or a loss. It really all depends on the trainer and the individual Pokémon."

Eevee suddenly jumped onto Summer's lap, and put its front paws on the table, looking at everyone curiously. It nudged Summer's plate of food.

"Only until you get to your optimal weight. Afterwards, you're not getting anything from my plate, understood?" Summer gave Eevee a meatball, making her Pokémon squeak with joy. Cyndaquil, immediately jealous, hopped on her as well, clamoring for a treat. "Oh, honestly…"

Ella laughed, "That's going to get annoying really fast."

"I think it's sweet," said Megan as Summer handed Cyndaquil a cracker.

"You'd think that they hadn't gotten fed since we'd gotten them."

"You need to show them who's boss," Gladion told her. "My Pokémon wouldn't do that. You've fed them, it should be enough."

Summer cuddled Eevee and Cyndaquil before putting them back on the ground. Both of them curled up together at her feet, going to sleep. "They're okay. I should feed Eevee as much as possible until it regains all of its strength. It's still weak." She explained what Eevee's situation was, and watched a muscle twitch in Gladion's cheek.

"Someone abandoned it because it looked different?"

"I can't really think of any other explanation," she told him.

"That doesn't seem fair. Who do you think abandoned it?"

Summer shrugged, "It could be anyone. But it wasn't a new trainer – Eevee fended for itself for months, apparently."

"Well, it seems to be doing okay now, thanks to you."

Summer looked down at it and smiled, "I can't imagine anybody abandoning a Pokémon. I mean, when you become a trainer, it's understood that you'll take care of them, no matter what."

"Not everyone feels that way, you know that."

They finished their lunch, using the Team Chaos discount because of Gladion and David. As they got ready to leave, Summer's phone vibrated with a Team Origin update.

 _Team Origin will be hosting a Surprise Pokémon Convention in the outskirts of Austin, Texas, on July 10_ _th_ _! If you're in the area, come on over for a wild ride! Get your tickets here! Special speakers include Professor Alder, and Level 5 trainer Ace Samuels!_

"That's so cool!" exclaimed Ella, having read the announcement aloud over Summer's shoulder. "Will you go?"

"I don't know. It would be great, but what about you guys?"

"Oh, don't worry about us, we'll have fun training while you're at the convention!"

"You should definitely go," said Gladion. "My mother told me before I started that I should go to every convention Team Chaos has. It's a great advantage, especially to new trainers."

"Is your mother interested in Pokémon?" asked Megan, her curiosity piqued.

Gladion gave a nod, "She knows a lot about them. I don't usually take her advice about much, but she made a very good point when she told me about conventions. I don't know what the Team Origin conventions are like, but the Team Chaos ones look awesome."

"All right, all right, I'll get a ticket." Using the Team Origin application on her phone, Summer signed up for the convention, paying $75 for a ticket. "It'll be the last week of our stay in Texas."

"That's perfect then," said Ella. "You'll have visited plenty with your uncle."

They made their way outside, seeing that the sky was turning gray. "Well, this was fun," said David. "We should meet up sometime whenever we can since we're all from Chicago."

"Small world," said Ella. She took out her phone, "Why don't we all exchange phone numbers and stuff?"

"Good idea." David handed his phone to Ella, "Here, you can put your details in there. Gladion can take Summer's phone."

And just like that, Summer found herself with Gladion's phone number, e-mail, and Facebook information. She entered her own details into his phone, before putting them into David's phone as well.

Half an hour later, she and the girls were on the road again. Summer's mind was spinning. "I can't believe that happened."

"Which bit? Gladion or Damian?"

"Neither. Although I'd appreciate never talking about Damian again, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all," said Ella. "So let's talk about the fact that Gladion's accent is out of this world! God, when he talks!"

Summer pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. His accent had caused her heart to flutter in her chest more than once during lunch. As a matter of fact, she hadn't even finished her meatballs and mashed potatoes.

"And let's not forget the fact that he's _hot_ ," said Megan. "I'd transfer to Team Chaos just to be on his team."

This time, Summer giggled.

"Oh, man. You tried to play it cool today, but you kept looking at him every ten seconds, Summer! You've really got it bad, don't you?"

She shook her head, "I've only met him once."

"That doesn't mean anything, and you know it. I've started relationships with less."

"I didn't say anything about starting a relationship with anybody," Summer told her.

"Maybe you should try! Why not, anyway?"

"How am I supposed to answer that question?" asked Summer as she turned onto the highway. Eevee, on her lap again, looked out the window, giving small squeaks every time they passed a Pokémon.

"So, what's your uncle's ranch like?"

"Last time I checked, it was a regular ranch. I'm not sure exactly what it's like now. But he said I'd love it."

"How long will it take us to get there, you think?"

"A couple of days, if we drive straight through."

"You think we can do that?" asked Megan.

"Sure. I programmed everything into the GPS, so it shouldn't be a problem if the two of us drive."

* * *

It took them just over 48 hours to make their way down to Blackwood Ranch. They saw plenty of Pokémon on the way over, but didn't stop to catch anything. They did, however, take plenty of pictures, for fun. Summer got pictures of a flock of Butterfree, a Girafarig, a couple of Sentret, and a Doduo, which she added to the Team Origin page in case anybody was looking for those Pokémon.

As they arrived in Texas, they began to see more desert-type Pokémon. Twice, they saw a Sandshrew on the side of the road, and at some point, Ella said that she saw a Sandile.

"I love how many Pokémon we're seeing!" exclaimed Megan. "I mean, look at that Fearrow over there! It's huge!"

"A bit _too_ huge, I think," said Ella. "Imagine trying to catch that thing. It would really have to want to go with you!"

Summer smiled as she saw a sign for her uncle's ranch. "Wait… does that say… _Pokémon Ranch_?"

"Oh my gosh, it does!"

"Pokémon? Your uncle has a ranch for Pokémon? What does that even mean?"

"I have no idea!" exclaimed Summer, driving just a little faster.

Twenty minutes later, she stopped the RV and stared. She had been to her uncle's ranch four times in her life, and remembered the green hills surrounded by trimmed hedges and white-painted fences. She remembered seeing horses there, of all shapes and sizes. She'd never imagined that it had changed to accommodate Pokémon.

There were Tauros there. And Bouffalant. And Mudbrays with Mudsdales. Summer couldn't believe it. There were even a couple of Ponyta.

"This is awesome!" she cried.

Ella and Megan were beside themselves, transmitting their excitement to their Pokémon, who began to jump around.

"Look at that Bouffalant!" said Megan. It's bigger than any of the others!"

"I never thought I'd ever get to see a Mudsdale in real life! They're supposed to be really rare!"

Grinning, Summer drove the RV to the house, which was a traditional one-story ranch house built with gray stones.

"It's got four bedrooms and a huge basement that my uncle arranged with a pool table and a real bar. He calls it his sports center, because of the wide-screen TV he mounted on the wall. He sent us pictures last year."

The front door to the house opened, and a tall man with long dark hair and a very tanned complexion came out. Next to him stood Summer's aunt Alice, a woman with bright red hair and dozens of freckles on her nose. Her red lips were stretched in a wide smile.

"Surprise!" she called.

The second the RV came to a stop, Summer flew out of the driver's seat and out the door, landing in her uncle's arms. "Uncle George! You didn't tell me you'd converted your ranch!"

He squeezed her tight, "I wanted to keep it a surprise. I still keep some horses, though, don't you worry about that!"

Summer hugged her aunt tightly before introducing Ella and Megan, who were standing side by side with smiles on their faces.

"It's beautiful here!" said Megan.

"Thank you!" said Aunt Alice. "And welcome to Blackwood Ranch! Come in, come in, it's hot out here!"

"Oh!" Summer stopped at the sight of a Growlithe and a Herdier at the door. "You have Pokémon too!"

Uncle George ruffled Summer's hair, "They're excellent for watching over the herds, I have to say."

Summer smiled, kneeling to say hello to the two canine Pokémon. "Hi there, you guys," she said.

The two Pokémon came closer to her, sniffing her hands cautiously. Cyndaquil and Eevee, who were perched on her shoulders, hopped down to greet them as well, and soon, they were all playing together.

"I didn't know you could get Pokémon without a license," said Megan. "I thought you needed to be a part of a team?"

"Oh, we are. We just don't compete. Instead, we run a ranch for the Pokémon you see here. We mostly rehabilitate the ones who have been injured or abandoned, and release them back into the wild, if they want to go. Sometimes, people come and one of the Pokémon will imprint on them, so to speak. We let them leave together then."

"That's great!" said Ella. "What team are you on?"

"We're both on Team Motion," said Aunt Alice, leading them into a spacious red and white kitchen, where a plate of cookies was waiting for them. "Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies – Summer's favorites. They're still warm."

Summer hugged her aunt again and took a cookie, breaking it in two and offering the halves to Cyndaquil and Eevee, who gobbled them up.

"And then you wonder why they beg for food!" Ella told her, laughing and taking a cookie for herself.

"They didn't beg at breakfast or lunch today, though."

"Okay, that's true."

They all sat down at the kitchen table to eat their cookies.

"So!" said Aunt Alice. "How have you been? Did you have a good drive over? What about the Gathering, how was that? And how are your parents?"

Summer began to laugh, "I know you just spoke to Dad yesterday," she said.

"Yeah, but it's not the same."

"Well, my parents are fine, I've been great, the drive was fun – we saw lots of Pokémon – and the Gathering was awesome."

"Yeah, _Gladion_ was awesome too," giggled Megan.

Summer's uncle raised an eyebrow, "Gladion?" he asked. "What's a Gladion?"

"Oh, nobody you need to concern yourself with," said Summer, glaring at Megan and shaking her head briefly.

"Oh! A boy!" exclaimed Aunt Alice. "Tell us more."

Feeling herself blushing to the roots of her hair, Summer shook her head, "There's nothing to tell."

"Not yet, anyway," said Ella as she bit into another cookie. "But Summer sure wishes there was."

"I do not."

Uncle George laughed, "Spill, young lady. What's he like?"

"I don't know what he's like. Not really. We've only met him once, and it wasn't even for that long."

"We spent an entire afternoon with him," said Megan. "Trust me, that's plenty of time to get to know someone. Like Ella said, she's dated someone with less information than what you have on Gladion."

Blushing again, Summer buried her head in one of the couch cushions.

"You're not _in love_ with him already, are you?" asked her aunt, sounding alarmed.

"No," said Summer, her voice muffled. "And it's too soon for another relationship right now anyway."

"Too soon?"

"I don't know about that," said Uncle George. "You don't get to decide when you start having feelings for someone."

Summer sat up again, accepting Eevee and Cyndaquil on her lap, "I just think he's cute, that's all. Really, there's nothing going on, no feelings or anything. I promise."

* * *

There weren't any feelings.

Over the first few days of her stay at Blackwood Ranch, Summer kept any thoughts of Gladion at bay, focusing on all the Pokémon her aunt and uncle looked after.

The ranch really was beautiful, attracting visitors from all over the state. Children were fascinated by the Pokémon, disappointed when Uncle George told them that they couldn't ride them.

"But they're horses!" said one of them.

"Mudbray aren't quite strong enough to carry a person, and while the Mudsdale could, they're too wild for anybody to try riding at the moment. We wouldn't want people to get hurt."

"They are really sweet, though," said Ella as she fed one of the smaller Mudbray on the ranch. "I'd love to take this one home!"

Summer grinned, "Tell me about it." She was currently leading one of the Ponyta to graze in the north field of the ranch. It was exceptionally tall and looked strong, a beautiful Pokémon with a mane and tail of fire that seemed to have a gentle disposition. "I could get several of my requirements met here alone."

"You could always ask your uncle to let you have one of the Pokémon here."

"Oh, no, I don't want to do that. But I will tell my teammates about this place so that they can come and see it for themselves." She chuckled as Ponyta nudged her, clearly wanting to get to the field that lay beyond the fence. "All right, all right, let's go."

She got to the field, and as soon as she'd released Ponyta, it took off, running and rearing, having a good time in the grass. Summer laughed, taking a picture of it and posting it on Team Origin's page.

She was about to put her phone away when it vibrated. Looking down at it, she felt her stomach somersaulting as she saw a message from Gladion on her screen.

 _Oh my God,_ she thought.

With shaking fingers, she clicked on it, blushing when she saw that he had sent her a picture of himself in a forest with a Pokémon on his shoulder, his Duskull hovering behind him in the background.

"Oh!" she breathed. "He got a Spinarak!" She swallowed, relieved to see that she wasn't the only one he had sent the message to. Ella, Megan, and David had all been included in it.

 _I hope you're all having a great time hunting Pokémon! I nearly stepped on this little guy while I was taking a walk – oops! My sister's going to freak out when she sees it. She hates spiders._

She responded, aiming for a casual tone despite the fact that her hands were trembling so much she had trouble typing normally.

 _I have to admit,_ she typed, _they kind of freak me out a little too. But this one's cute._

She put the phone in her pocket. "Oh God, I hope I don't have to do that again…"

Eevee rubbed its face against hers, "Vee?"

"Nothing, it's nothing," she said, scratching its ears.

But it wasn't nothing. That one message from him had made her skin flash hot, as though she'd suddenly been touched by fever. The fact that he had sent a picture had her feeling distinctly lightheaded, and while she told herself not to, she couldn't help but save it to her phone.

 _You shouldn't_ , she said to herself that evening. _Don't do it. You're still getting over the last relationship you were in…_

"It doesn't work that way, honey," said her aunt. "If you feel something, then you feel something. Now, the decision to do something about it is entirely up to you, but you shouldn't try to suppress whatever it is you're feeling."

"But I don't know him…"

Her aunt smiled, "That sometimes matters very little. I had a friend a little older than you who was in a serious relationship with her boyfriend, and less than a month after she broke up with him, she met someone else and fell in love. They're still together now."

"So you're telling me to try?"

"I'm telling you not to deny what you're feeling. It's okay to like someone, you know, even after your previous relationship ended in disaster."

"How do you know it did?"

"Because your mother told me."

Summer blinked, "And how does Mom know?"

"She's your mother, honey. She knows. She doesn't know exactly what happened, but you should tell her if it was so bad that you're trying to remain celibate."

"I don't… that's not what I'm doing. I just think that it would be better for me to wait before I even consider the possibility of starting anything with him. He may not even like me anyway…"

"That's true, and you should never rush into a relationship. But you also shouldn't be cutting yourself off either, not forever. Just don't be so hard on yourself."

"I'll try…"


End file.
